Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea took an important step forward in battling the mental hurdles that have hindered him for the past six weeks.

His Oakland teammates took an equally big leap at the plate when they batted around during a four-run sixth inning.

Manaea pitched four-hit ball and allowed three runs over six innings Authentic Ryan Switzer Jersey , Stephen Piscotty hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the sixth inning and the A’s broke out of their funk to beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-4 on Saturday.

”I wouldn’t say I’m back,” said Manaea, who has had an uneven season since throwing the first no-hitter in the majors this season on April 21. ”I’m going to think and it’s just going to be a natural part of it but I would say I’m a little more calm in gathering my thoughts and not just thinking about the very, very little things that I can’t be worried about during games.”

Manaea was perfect through the first four innings but was on the verge of coming unraveled after giving up three consecutive hits including Chris Young’s three-run home run in the fifth.

After walking Jabari Blash after Young’s home run, Manaea settled down to retire the next two batters then set down three of the four he faced in the sixth to end his day.

”Definitely collected myself and slowed the game down,” Manaea said. ”Kind of was just going through the motions a little bit. I was just throwing it and not executing. After the home run I just stepped off and really had to focus and slow the game down.”

Chad Pinder homered and tripled, Marcus Semien also went deep and Jonathan Lucroy drew a bases-loaded walk to help Oakland end its season-high four-game losing streak.

Manaea (6-6) struck out four and walked one to win for the second time in nine starts.

”All it takes for a guy of his caliber and talent level is to get a good outing or two under his belt and then he’s back to pitching confidently,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. ”When he’s confident he usually pitches game like that.”

Young, a late replacement after Angels left fielder Justin Upton was scratched from the starting lineup 40 minutes before first pitch, hit a three-run home run for Los Angeles.

The A’s had lost six straight and 12 of 13 to AL West teams before rallying to beat the Angels for only the third time this season.

Semien homered leading off the sixth to chase Los Angeles starter John Lamb. Reliever Noe Ramirez (2-3) hit Pinder with a pitch, retired Jed Lowrie on a fly out, then walked Khris Davis before hitting Matt Olson to load the bases.

Ramirez struck out pinch-hitter Dustin Fowler but Lucroy walked to force in the tying. Piscotty then lined a 1-1 pitch to center, scoring Davis and Olson.

”We needed it,” Piscotty said. ”We haven’t lost any confidence, any faith Authentic Adrian Clayborn Jersey , we’ve just got to keep going. We’ve got a good team.”

Yusmeiro Petit and Lou Trivino retired three players apiece. A’s closer Blake Treinen gave up a two-out RBI single to pinch-hitter Jose Fernandez in the ninth but got Luis Valbuena to ground out for his 15th save.

Lamb pitched into the sixth inning and allowed a pair of solo home runs in his first start since July 16, 2016. He struck out five and walked one. The 27-year-old left-hander missed 50 games last season after testing positive for drugs while in the minors.

”I thought he had all his pitches working,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ”He may have gotten a little tired coming out for the sixth. Got us to a nice point in the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold it.”

GEM OF A DEBUT

Angels right-hander Jake Jewell made his major league debut with a scoreless eighth inning. He hit Piscotty with a pitch but got Franklin Barreto to strike out looking for the third out.

JUST GET THERE

The A’s are 31-0 when leading after the eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Angels: Upton was a late scratch due to lower back stiffness.

Athletics: Third baseman Matt Chapman was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a bruised right hand and will meet with hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin on Monday in Los Angeles. Chapman took infield practice before the game but did not throw. … LHP Brett Anderson threw 30 pitches in the bullpen.

UP NEXT

Lefty Andrew Heaney (3-5, 3.68 ERA) starts for the Angels in the series finale Sunday at the Coliseum. Right-hander Daniel Mengden (6-6, 3.90) starts for the A’s.

Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin used a frenetic final run to stretch her winning streak in 2018 to five races at a women’s World Cup night race on Tuesday.

Shiffrin became the first female skier to start a calendar year with five straight wins, eclipsing the previous best mark by Swiss standout Vreni Schneider in 1989.

For the first time this season, Shiffrin was not leading after the opening part of a slalom. After a run in which the American struggled for rhythm throughout, she trailed first-run leader Bernadette Schild of Austria by 0.37 seconds.

But on a course set by her coach Mike Day, the defending overall champion was back to her best and posted the fastest second-run time to beat the Austrian by 0.94.

Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was 1.43 behind in third.

”My timing, my feeling, my rhythm was so much better than in the first run,” Shiffrin told The Associated Press. ”Actually, the biggest change was just my mindset. It was a nerves’ thing. If I am a little nervous or anxious, my timing is off, then it can make everything look really terrible.”

Less than five weeks before the Olympic slalom in Pyeongchang Kenny Clark Jersey , the American called her recovery in the final run ”a really big step for me.”

”This was the first time that I was coming from behind in the first run and I had to make a statement,” she said. ”That was really important for me, a really big checkmark on the way to the Olympics because when we are there, anything can happen, and I want to be mentally prepared for all those possibilities.”

Schild lost her first-run lead but still celebrated with both arms up after crossing the finish line.

The Austrian was on a World Cup podium five times before, most recently in Killington in November, but has yet to win a race.

”I grew up in Saalfelden, nor far from here. So this is really a home race for me. It was amazing for me,” Schild said. ”I didn’t feel pressure, the audience gave me energy.”

The previous time she led a slalom after the opening run, in 2013 in Courchevel, she lost her advantage to her older sister Marlies Raich. Now retired, Raich holds the record for most slalom wins (35) on the women’s circuit. Shiffrin’s win on Tuesday was the American’s 30th in the discipline.

The Austrian women’s team has been waiting for a slalom win since Nicole Hosp triumphed in Aspen in 2014.

Shiffrin celebrated her 41st career win, matching the record for most World Cup wins by a 22-year-old skier, set by Annemarie Moser-Proell in the 1970s.

”She is such an amazing name, legend in ski racing Mason Crosby Jersey ,” Shiffrin said about the Austrian great. ”A lot of people say you can’t really compare (the eras) and I agree with them. It’s incredible, nevertheless. I wasn’t thinking about the 41st victory, I was just thinking, you know, ski this one like this is going to be that last one you’ll ever ski.”

It also was the 200th win for the U.S. ski team in the 50-year history of the women’s World Cup. Only Austria (372) and Switzerland (301) have won more races. Shiffrin and four-time overall champion Lindsey Vonn together have added 119 wins to the American total.

Shiffrin went further ahead in both the overall and the slalom standings as her main rivals, Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, failed to finish their first runs.

After 19 of the season’s 38 races, Shiffrin has amassed 1,381 World Cup points. Four years ago, that amount would have been enough for the overall title as Anna Veith won it with a total of 1,371.

After seven races in 13 days, Shiffrin will skip the next World Cup – speed events in Bad Kleinkirchheim this weekend – to rest and have more time for training.