Resilient A’s keep winning despite pitchers’ wave of injuries.
Rotation loses more arms, but Martini’s double beats Houston
HOUSTON — The A’s season-long trend of rotation injuries surfaced again this week at precisely the wrong time, with the team heading into the home stretch of the postseason race. Unfazed, Oakland came up with yet another big, late win.
On Tuesday, the team learned that top starter Sean Manaea, placed on the disabled list Sunday, has rotator-cuff tendinitis, leaving his status for the rest of the season in doubt, and left-hander Brett Anderson was placed on the DL with a forearm strain.
The A’s have lost 10 starters to injuries over the course of the season — but they are somehow still right in the thick of the postseason hunt, just 1½ games behind the
Astros in the AL West after beating Houston 4-3 on Nick Martini’s ninth-inning RBI ground-rule double.
“It’s been that way all year — the resiliency of the team is one of its strengths,” manager Bob Melvin said after the A’s improved their record in one-run games to a major-league-best 27-10. Oakland is also a majorleague-best 46-17 since June 16 and has won five of its past seven against the defending World Series champion Astros.
Manaea, who threw a nohitter against Boston in April, will be shut down until he has no more discomfort in his shoulder.
“We’re hoping to get him back at some point this season,” Melvin said after Manaea visited noted orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “Whether that happens or not, I’m not sure.”
Anderson, who had trouble throwing his slider Monday while allowing five runs in 22⁄3 innings, flew back to the Bay Area to have an MRI exam and see team doctors.
“It’s obviously not ideal to lose two more starters here this late in the season, but, like it has all season, it gives someone else an opportunity,” Melvin said.
General manager David Forst told The Chronicle that the A’s might consider “bullpenning” or using relievers to start some games, when rosters expand Saturday. “We’ve seen some other creative solutions around the game when it comes to starting pitching,” Forst said. “Once we get to Sept. 1 and have a large bullpen at our disposal, we’ll look at some of those things as well.”
The Rays have used relievers, including former Giants closer Sergio Romo, to start games on numerous occasions this year, and several teams have had regular “bullpen games,” using a mix of long men and other relievers for the entire game.
“Any of that kind of stuff,” Forst said. “If we have 15 guys in the bullpen, whether it’s an all-bullpen game or what Tampa Bay has done — we’re going to spend the rest of this week certainly looking into that stuff.”
The A’s constructed their bullpen carefully, adding three relievers — Juerys Familia, Fernando Rodney and Shawn Kelly — in order to shorten games and make potential cracks in the rotation less of a factor.
There are several starters available who have cleared waivers, but Forst did not sound as if the team is contemplating any deals.
“This is a really difficult time of year to add from outside the organization,” Forst said, “and I don’t know if there is anything available outside the organization that can help us at this time.”
Asked if the A’s have any plans to call up top pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo, who has worked in just four games at the Triple-A level, Forst responded, “No.”
Luzardo, 20, is two years removed from Tommy John surgery and he is 102⁄3 innings away from reaching the maximum 120 innings the A’s had him slated to pitch this season. After excelling in Class A and Double-A, he gave up eight runs in his last outing and was scratched from his start at Nashville on Tuesday.
A’s starters have made 11 trips to the DL this year, and Kendall Graveman and A.J. Puk had Tommy John surgery while not on the big-league roster. Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Paul Blackburn each have two DL stints. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser