Davis is given a day off; Martini serves as DH

CHICAGO — Khris Davis’ funk continues, and on Sunday against the White Sox, Nick Martini was the A’s designated hitter.

Manager Bob Melvin said that the move was in part to keep Martini, a lefthanded hitter, ready to come off the bench to pinch hit, with National League games at San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday. Plus, the White Sox had a righthander, Lucas Giolito, working Sunday.

Even if Martini does need some playing time, there is no overlooking Davis’ lengthy power slump. He’s having some better atbats lately, hitting .281 with an .801 OPS in his past 10 games, but he has hit only one homer since June 18.

“He has some days where he looks like he has some really good swings and (Saturday night) the first ball he hits looks like it has a chance, but he’s still not where he wants to be at this point,” Melvin said. “So we’ll give him a day today.”

Davis is healthy after earlier side and hand injuries, but his power stroke just hasn’t come around yet.

“Sometimes when you go through injuries and you’ve sat around and you go on the IL, you try to work through an injury, at times you can get into bad habits and you’re trying to figure out your mechanics,” Melvin said. “All those things combined suggest he’s not quite there yet.”

Stephen Piscotty, one of the A’s to come down with the flu in the past week, was not in Sunday’s lineup but said he’s feeling better; Chad Pinder was in right field. Pinder doubled and singled, extending his hitting streak to a careerbest eight games. He’s 9for20 with three doubles and three homers in that stretch. Luzardo’s outlook: Jesús Luzardo’s results as he returns from a lat strain are eyepopping, but Melvin said it’s unlikely the A’s highly regarded pitching prospect will be a consideration for the A’s before September.

Luzardo, 21, struck out seven in three hitless, scoreless innings with Class A Stockton on Saturday night. In 241⁄3 innings this year, he has struck out 37 and walked two. He has worked just twice since coming back from his most recent injury.

“We’re always looking for the best complement,” Melvin said, “and there’s some time to continue to evaluate before September. I have a hard time believing he’d be ready before then. We’ll just see how we get there, how his health is, how stretched out he is and how the rest of the guys are doing.”