The Oakland Athletics will start left-hander Sean Manaea against the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League wild-card game Wednesday, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Manaea was sensational down the stretch after coming back in September following shoulder surgery in 2018. The 27-year-old posted a 1.21 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings across five starts that month.
At a press conference, Manaea said that when manager Bob Melvin asked him if he wanted to start against Tampa Bay, he responded, "Hell yeah."
Nice to see Sean Manaea get a chance to show his sweet, genuine and extremely honest personality on the national stage. Asked his biggest previous start he says a Little League AA World Series game and “I failed miserably.”
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 1, 2019
Right-hander Mike Fiers was also in the mix to start. He'll be on the 25-man roster and available out of the bullpen, according to Slusser.
The Rays will counter with right-hander Charlie Morton in the do-or-die contest.
