Semien out — wrist injury
A’s shortstop Marcus Semien missed Saturday’s game with a bone contusion in his right wrist and will have a CT scan Monday to determine the extent of the injury.
Semien said the wrist issue began at the end of spring training and that he felt it when swinging. Friday, he began feeling it when throwing.
“It’s been kind of nagging, but I usually play through everything,” Semien said. “Yesterday it hurt a little more than usual. I still fought through it, actually had some good at-bats, but they wanted to check it out.”
Semien played 159 games last season, 155 in 2015. Of those 311 games, 305 were starts.
“Anytime Marcus is out of the lineup, it’s a concern,” manager
Bob Melvin said. “It’s always tough to tell with him, because he’s got a very high threshold of pain and never wants to come out of the lineup.”
Semien is hitting .171.
Decker called up: Jaff Decker hit .333 in spring training, was one of the final roster cuts and kept hitting at Triple-A Nashville. The A’s rewarded him with a promotion to the majors and inserted him in Saturday’s lineup as the center fielder.
“I didn’t allow a hangover,
you could say, for not making the team,” said Decker, who collected three hits in his A’s debut Saturday.
Decker, 27, who had previous stints with the Padres, Pirates and Rays totaling only 60 games, was a non-roster invitee in spring training.
The A’s optioned Mark Canha, who was 2-for-19, to Nashville. Melvin said Canha — who hit .254 with with 16 homers and 70 RBIs as a rookie in 2015 — needs to play regularly and get consistent at-bats, especially after missing most of last season and starting this season only against lefties.
“I have no doubt he’ll be back and performing in the fashion he did two years ago,” Melvin said, “but I don’t feel we were doing him any good playing him once every third or fourth day for a couple of at-bats.”
To create room on the 40man roster for Decker, the A’s transferred outfielder Jake Smolinski, recovering from shoulder surgery, to the 60-day disabled list.