SAN FRANCISCO – Sean Manaea hasn’t even been to San Diego since he was traded to the Padres from the A’s eight days ago. At least he got to sleep in his own bed in San Francisco on Sunday night, as the Padres are set to face the Giants for a three-game series starting Monday.
The southpaw hurled seven no-hit innings in his debut Friday while walking one batter and striking out seven. He’s set to pitch again in Wednesday’s series finale against San Francisco ace Logan Webb.
After wearing the green and gold for his first six seasons, Manaea is still making an adjustment to his new threads.
“I’m still getting used to it,” Manaea said, looking down at his mustard and brown warmups while standing on the field at Oracle Park Monday.
Manaea was part of Oakland’s offseason fire sale, as the franchise shipped away him, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Chris Bassitt. Olson got off to a hot start for the Atlanta Braves, leading MLB in hits through the first weekend of the season. Manaea also knew that Bassitt spun a six-inning, eight-strikeout game for the New York Mets this past weekend and that Chapman hit his first dinger of the year for the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday.
“We keep in touch with each other,” Manaea said. “I’m definitely keeping tabs on everybody. … Where everyone’s at now, were where we’re supposed to be, I guess.”
There’s worse landing spots than sunny San Diego. Not to mention he’s part of a stacked rotation that also includes veterans like Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell and Mike Clevinger.
Making Manaea’s transition even easier? Former Oakland manager Bob Melvin is his skipper, while former bench coach Ryan Christenson has assumed the same role with the Padres. During Melvin's 10-plus season tenure, no Oakland pitcher made more starts (128), won more games (50) or struck out more batters (641) than Manaea.
“Having those two familiar faces is huge,” Manaea said. “BoMel is obviously the man, he’s been around for a long time. I’m definitely in a good situation.”
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Melvin said he sent a congratulatory text to Mark Kotsay after he earned his first managerial victory Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“We went back and forth a little bit,” Melvin said. “I even saw a little video of him in a cart going through the shower. He took a little beer shower. I’m just happy he got his first win. After a couple of losses – I think my first one came two or three losses after the season, it feels like 100. You wanna get that first win. He’s gonna be fine and I always wish him the best.”
Manaea is keeping track of his former teammates, too.
“Happy for Kots. He got his first win last night,” Manaea said. “That was really cool. Daulton pitched a great game, too. Always good to keep tabs on everyone. … I’ve been with Chi (Chad Pinder) and Oly (Olson) since ‘15,” Manaea said. “It’s tough at first. It's still, it’s only been a week or something like that. It’s still fairly new, but that’s how baseball goes.”
