OAKLAND - A's left-hander Sean Manaea was scratched from Saturday's start because of upper back tightness.
Manaea said it's similar to the issues he's had with his back in the past two years and felt it flare up while playing catch Friday. When he showed up to the Coliseum on Saturday and still felt the pain, the A's made the call to scratch him.
"Until last year, I've never had it before," Manaea said. "It took me probably a week [to recover], so hopefully I can make my last start. I'm going to try everything I can to get back on the mound."
Right-hander Raul Alcantara started in Manaea's place. Manager Bob Melvin said the A's didn't want to mess with the issue, especially because Manaea has dealt with something like this before.
"[Pitching him tonight] just doesn't seem like the prudent thing to do," Melvin said. "We have two starts left for him, and we'll see how he is leading into his next start. But we didn't want him to have to go out tonight and pitch with it."
Worth Noting
• Catcher Bruce Maxwell continues to work through the concussion protocol after taking a foul ball square on the center of his catcher's mask Wednesday in Detroit. His status for the rest of the season remains uncertain.
"If he is OK to do it, we would like to see him play some," Melvin said. "But if he is not, we definitely are not going to rush him back just to try to get him games."
• After a hard collision with the center field wall on Friday, Chad Pinder is "a little banged up," according to Melvin. Pinder wasn't in the starting lineup Saturday.
"He took a pretty good shot," Melvin said. "I think more kind of whiplash than maybe a concussion-type thing, but it was a pretty good shot."