CHICAGO -- When Dustin Garneau was claimed off waivers by the A’s on Saturday, the move was seen as a temporary fix while Josh Phegley recovers from a left thumb injury. But the catcher is making a case to stick around a little longer.

Not only have the A’s won both games that Garneau has started behind the plate, but he’s also been at the forefront of those victories. After contributing to Sunday’s win over the Cardinals with a go-ahead two-run double, Garneau came up big again in Tuesday night’s 11-4 win by providing the huge blow in the team’s eight-run second inning with a three-run homer off Cubs starter Jon Lester.

Familiarity played a big factor in the A’s picking up Garneau -- he played 19 games with Oakland in 2017 -- but manager Bob Melvin said the club also noticed a change in his approach at the plate when Garneau was with the Angels earlier this year and delivered a walk-off double against the A’s in Anaheim.

“We saw earlier in the year it looked like he made some adjustments to shorten his swing a little bit,” Melvin said. “Right now he’s swinging the bat really well, and when you have a couple of games like he did, certainly confidence plays into it. He’s got a lot of that working right now.”

Even with a day game after a night game, Garneau found himself in Wednesday’s starting lineup. With Phegley not expected to be back when his full 10 days on the injured list are up on Friday, Garneau will have more chances to contribute to a playoff race that has the A’s trailing the Rays by just a half-game for the second American League Wild Card entering Wednesday’s game.

“He gets along with the guys really well. Watching him in Anaheim this year, he was swinging the bat as well as we’ve seen him,” Melvin said. “I think you get inspired going to certain places and I think he really enjoys being here. It was a great pickup at the time and obviously he’s paid dividends in the two games he’s played.”

Manaea back to throwing

After he was temporarily shut down due to soreness in his side over the weekend, Sean Manaea was back to playing catch on Wednesday. The left-hander was expected to get one more start at Triple-A Las Vegas before getting called up to the big league roster for his 2019 debut, though there is still no timetable on a return to game action for Manaea.