A’s Chris Bassitt has ‘succesful’ facial surgery; could return to Bay Area soon
OAKLAND — A’s starting pitcher Chris Bassitt is expected back in the Bay Area later this week following what the club described as “successful” facial surgery Tuesday at Rush Medical Center in Chicago.
Bassitt, the A’s No. 1 starter, took a line drive to the face off the bat of Brian Goodwin on Aug. 18 and was immediately taken to the hospital. The drive was timed at 100.1 miles per hour. Surgery was performed once the swelling subsided.
“That is great news,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said before the A’s hosted the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum. “All the little nuance things that we probably knew about in there all went beautifully. Took out fragments, the whole bit. I think it went exception
ally well and everybody feels great about that.”
The A’s released the following statement regarding Bassitt’s surgery:
“Chris Bassitt had successful
facial surgery today in Chicago with Dr. Peter Revenaugh at the Rush Medical Center. Dr. Revenaugh was able to stabilize and
plate the tripod fracture with good fixation and debride other small fractured bones from the incident. Chris is stable and resting comfortably and will have follow-up appointments upon his arrival to Oakland. The A's anticipate Bassitt will return to the Bay Area later this week.”
BULLPEN WOES: Closer Lou Trivino wasn't going to pitch Tuesday anyway, and with a scheduled day off Wednesday, will get two days to ponder what went wrong after blowing saves on backto-back days against the Giants and Mariners.
“That's the hard part of the role in that there's not a lot of room for error,” Melvin said. “A lot of times you're coming in in one-run games and not only can you make a bad pitch from time to time, but some things can happen that are out of your control.”
Trivino surrendered a two-run home run to Lamonte Wade Jr. in the ninth inning Saturday against the Giants, and then failed to close out Seattle with a 3-2 lead, giving up three runs in the ninth.
“I know he's eager to get back out there again. We won't use him today,” Melvin said. “We have an off-day tomorrow, but up to that point he was as good as anybody in the American League.
Left-hander A.J. Puk was victimized in Sunday's loss to the Giants, giving up a two-run pinch home run to Donovan Solano in a 2-1 loss to the Giants.
In converting 14 consecutive save opportunities before the last two games, Trivino had an 0.84 earned run average and held opponents to a .188 batting average (21-for-112).
Melvin expects the bullpen as a group will pull together.
“There's a lot of support amongst the guys with our pitching staff and that always remains the same,” Melvin said. “It's easy to support when things are going good. But it's more important when they're not. He'll get plenty of support from our guys.”
CHAPMAN BACK IN LINEUP: Third baseman Matt Chapman, who was scratched Monday with a foot contusion, was back in the lineup Tuesday.
“Today he feels much better so he's in the lineup,” Melvin said.