Doolittle placed on DL

MINNEAPOLIS — Going by history, Sean Doolittle’s latest shoulder injury is likely to sideline the left-hander for at least two months.

“I don’t know if this is going to be a quick thing,” manager Bob Melvin said of Doolittle’s shoulder strain, which the team announced Wednesday. “In the past, we’ve been fairly conservative with him because he is such an integral piece for us. This is a tough loss for us.”

The A’s had Doolittle ease into his workload slowly during the spring in hopes of keeping him healthier longer, and Melvin noted how hard Doolittle works at injury prevention.

Doolittle, who missed more than two months with a similar issue last year and 121 games in 2015, flew back to the Bay Area to confer with team doctors.

“This was more surprising because he’d had three days off and threw five pitches (Saturday) and then felt it the next day,” Melvin said. “Obviously, we have our fingers crossed.”

But with every bit of bad health news comes an opportunity for someone else, and Wednesday, the team called up hard-throwing right-hander Bobby Wahl for the first time. Wahl, 25, is seen as a possible closer, given his 97-mph fastball, and he had three saves and a 1.93 ERA at Triple-A Nashville. He gave up two hits and a run and hit a batter in his big-league debut.

“Maybe some nerves involved, but the stuff ’s good,” Melvin said.

Wahl said the best part of getting called up for the first time was calling his wife, Kaitlin, with the news.

“To hear her voice start cracking a little bit on the phone was cool,” he said. “You dream of that moment, calling your loved ones and telling them you’re going to the big leagues. That was pretty special.”

Doolittle has added a slider to his repertoire with success this year, and opponents were batting .185 against him. He’s one of the A’s increasingly few holdovers from the 2012-2014 playoff teams.

“It’s a shame. I thought he was pitching the best he had in a couple of years,” catcher Stephen Vogt said. “For someone like him, who works as hard as he does and competes as hard as he does, for him to go down like this is just disheartening for him and for us. It’s just hard.”