Youth is served as A’s roll past Tribe

OAKLAND — Five of the nine A’s starters in Tuesday night’s 9-1 win over the Indians began the season in the Minor Leagues, as did starting pitcher Sean Manaea, before an accelerated path to the Majors embedded him in Oakland.

That so many rookies appeared in conjunction on Aug. 23 speaks volumes to where the A’s (54-72) are. But for those looking for something optimistic to latch onto, Tuesday was a good starting point.

Rookie third baseman Ryon Healy went 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Chad Pinder drove in his first career run in the third inning. Bruce Maxwell followed in the eighth, adding his first two career RBIs on a one-out double.

Even Jake Smolinski, playing in an everyday role for the first time at 27 years old, added a tremendous diving catch in center field in the seventh inning.

“It’s a great group of guys here and a great group of guys coming up,” Pinder said, “so I’m very excited to see what the future has.”

Manaea teamed up with friend and former Minor League battery-mate Maxwell to allow one run over seven innings, striking out eight batters against an Indians team that is …

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