Cahill’s turn skipped, Martini shipped out

The A’s optioned outfielder Nick Martini to Triple-A Nashville before Saturday’s game to create a roster spot for starting pitcher Chris Bassitt, who was recalled from Triple-A.

Bassitt was activated to start against the Royals in place of Trevor Cahill, who was skipped after feeling discomfort in his Achilles while running. Manager Bob Melvin said the A’s hope Cahill, who has a 2.77 ERA in eight starts, will miss only one turn.

“We had him out (Friday) and taped him up a little bit, he threw a little bit off the mound, but we just weren’t comfortable,” Melvin said. “So hopefully every day he gets a

little bit better and we can push him in there somewhere four or five days down the road.”

Keeping Cahill active and sending out Martini left the A’s with a two-man bench for Saturday’s game. Outfielder Dustin Fowler and catcher Jonathan Lucroy were the lone available reserves.

Martini was activated and made his big-league debut Wednesday, when Matt Joyce (back) landed on the disabled list. Martini went hitless in nine at-bats over three games.

“We really like Nick,” Melvin said. “When you first get to the big leagues and get a couple games under your belt and don’t get a hit, you feel like you did something wrong. That’s not the case. He made a real nice play in the outfield, we like the quality of his at-bats.” Recovery road: Reliever Ryan Buchter (strained left shoulder) threw 20 pitches to hitters at Class A Stockton on Friday night and “felt good,” Melvin said.

Outfielder Boog Powell (sprained right knee) has been rehabbing at the A’s facility in Arizona and is close to starting a rehab assignment.

Staying put: The A’s haven’t done much base-stealing this season: They have the fewest steals (12) and lowest success percentage (48) in the majors, and Melvin said even their 25 attempts (second fewest in MLB) might be too many.

“I may have even pushed it a little too much at times, because our numbers aren’t great, and we don’t want to run into outs,” Melvin said. “We’ve been doing a nice job around that. … We have guys that get on base, guys that hit homers, and our offensive numbers as a whole look pretty good right now.”