OAKLAND – Stephen Piscotty will have a hard time overcoming last Thursday night.
The A championship champion snatched an 8-4 victory over the Tigers with a solo homer slaughterhouse in the third inning that was belted at an outstretched speed of 109.6 mph and ran 404 feet in the left, by Statcast, who scored his second straight game with a home run and ranked as the most affected ball of the night. A couple of hours later, Piscotty left the Coliseum at the seventh entrance to join his wife, Carrie, who gave birth to their first child, a boy.
“He left in the middle of the game,” A director Bob Melvin said. “They had a small child. I know he’s very excited about it, just like us. “
The A placed Piscotty on the paternity roster before Friday’s game against the Tigers. He may be on the list for up to three days, and Melvin said he expects him to be out for at least the next two days.
Utility coach Vimael Machín was called from the A’s alternative training site in Stockton, California, to take Piscotty’s place on the 26-man roster. Machín’s versatility offers the club the chance to give Elvis Andrus a day off, which came in on Friday after starting all 13 games this season.
“At some point, I will give [Elvis] a breath. Just don’t tell him now, ”joked Melvin. “It simply came to our notice then. We really didn’t have anyone who could play that position. We’re going to give some guys days off that we now have more staff to do right now. ”
Fiers increases the tone count
Mike Fiers (lumbar strain) could be just a start of joint rehabilitation to the rotation of the A. The right-hander threw 77 pitches at the A’s alternate spot in a fight match against giants Menor Leaguers on Thursday afternoon. His next and possibly final step will be to throw around 90 pitches in an outing to the alternate spot on Tuesday.
“Everything has to go well and he has to be healthy,” Melvin said. “We will try to reach the age of 90 [April 20], and then we’ll try to do something. “
It’s unclear how the A’s would reconfigure their launch staff to integrate Fiers back into the mix. One possibility would be that left-hander Cole Irvin, who started the season in the rotation instead of Fiers, would move to the bullring in a long-running role.