Piscotty put on paternity list
A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty, who has homered in back-to-back games, was placed on the paternity list before Friday’s game with the Detroit Tigers, the club announced.
Piscotty is batting .250 with two home runs and four
RBIs in 11 games. He put the A’s ahead with a leadoff home run in the third inning in Thursday’s 8-4 win over the Tigers. It was the sixth win in seven games after the A’s started 0-6.
The team recalled infielder Vimael Machín from its alternate site.
Machín joins the A’s for the first time this year after batting .286 with nine RBIs in 23 games during the spring. He made his major league debut with Oakland last year after being acquired from Philadelphia. The 27-year-old lefthanded hitter batted .206 with two doubles and no RBIs in 24 games and added eight walks for a .296 on-base percentage.
KEMP, PINDER DONATE JACKIE ROBINSON DAY PAY >> Tony Kemp would not have been in left field for the A’s on Thursday
— or any other night — if not for Jackie Robinson. He’s hoping he can make a difference for another aspiring major leaguer.
Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day on Thursday. This year, more than 100 players, including Kemp and teammate Chad Pinder, are donating part or all of their salary for the day to support The Players Alliance, a group that is helping donate equipment and help make baseball more accessible to kids who otherwise might get shut out as well as bringing awareness to issues of equality in MLB and the community.
Kemp is an active member with The Players Alliance, which was formed last summer. This winter, current and former players planned to visit 33 cities across the country to provide COVID-19 supplies and baseball gear to various communities. The Pull Up tour was cut short because of COVID travel restrictions and only got as far west as Las Vegas. All eight California stops — including Oakland, San Francisco and Vallejo — had to be canceled. But it was a start.
Kemp, 29, points to Robinson as the person who got his own ball rolling.
“There is no way to not get emotional or get some chills,”
Kemp said of wearing Robinson’s No. 42 in a game.
“Driving to the field you kind of step back and you realize that a person like me wouldn’t be able to come to a big league ballpark if it wasn’t for Jackie Robinson doing what he did. Jackie is a guy that will always be looked up to.”
REACHING OUT >> Last summer, AJ Hinch reached out to A’s manager Bob Melvin to apologize for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scam when he managed Houston.
They have longtime respect and a strong working relationship as colleagues from their days together with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I’ve worked with Bob in a couple different ways,” Hinch said. “I had him when I was in the front office, he was the manager, then I end up being the manager right after him. He and I have known each other a long time. I have great respect for him. I did call him last summer when I was suspended to apologize to him in understanding how wrong we were and how it impacted the A’s and him and the entire game of baseball. That business was handled last summer.”
It was A’s right-hander Mike Fiers who made public the cheating involving his former club.