Pinder hurt in car crash

DENVER — A’s utilityman Chad Pinder incurred a left elbow laceration in a car accident in downtown Denver on Saturday, but he and others involved in the incident sustained only minor injuries.

Pinder needed three stitches on his top of his elbow and one underneath it, and he also has some butterfly stitches on his forearm; he won’t be able to swing a bat until the elbow stitches are out.

“My whole arm was covered in blood, and my pants,” said Pinder, who was treated at a hospital and then doublechecked by team trainers before being sent back to the hotel to rest.

Pinder and his fiancee, Taylor Jackson, were heading to lunch at the time, but neither was driving; Jackson was left with a bruised back when the side air bag deployed.

“Everybody involved is good, which is the most important thing,” Pinder said. “We’re very lucky and blessed to walk away with some bruises and scratches. I just need to get this healed up, but I don’t anticipate it being very long.

“It wasn’t a very fun experience at all, but there’s a silver lining to it. Everyone’s alive, it could have been way worse. It was just bad luck. Wrong place, wrong time. But everyone is healthy, so that's all that matters.”

“I feel for him,” manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s real-life circumstance; I’m glad it wasn’t worse.”

The move to put Pinder on the disabled list was retroactive to Saturday. The A’s called up infielder Franklin Barreto to sub during Pinder’s absence. Fowler’s status: Rookie outfielder Dustin Fowler, a lefthanded hitter, remained out of the lineup against a righthanded starter, in part because the team did not have the designated hitter at Coors Field and Khris Davis was in left. However, with Fowler in a 3-for-32 funk and Nick Martini appearing to gain traction as the leadoff man, it’s possible the A’s will consider sending Fowler to Triple-A Nashville to get regular at-bats.

One reason the team might be able to think about that: Nashville has an outfielder tearing it up, and he happens to be on the 40-man roster. Ramon Laureano, 24, is on an 18-for-35 roll with four homers. The only issue: He’s a right-handed hitter, and Oakland has more of a need for a left-handed batter.