Lowrie warned over cleats

Jed Lowrie is not alone in wearing cleats that don’t conform to his team’s official uniform. A third to nearly half the players in big-league games on any given night are wearing shoes that differ from the regulation color, as Lowrie had mentioned to The Chronicle last month.

The A’s second baseman, though, is the one Oakland player who got a warning this week about wearing non-standard colors. While on the team’s just-completed road trip, Lowrie heard from the league about his green New Balance cleats.

Oakland famously wears white shoes.

“Major League Baseball decided to start enforcing the

rule they hadn’t really enforced the last few years,” Lowrie said. “I’m the only one I know of, but I believe others have been warned as well. As soon as I was told, I ordered a new pair of spikes.”

The new white cleats are still en route, so Lowrie was a scofflaw in green cleats again Friday, and many of his teammates and A’s coaches were either trying to track down their old white cleats or order new ones.

Blackburn plans: Paul Blackburn will be back on a mound Sunday for the first time since being shut down during spring training. The right-hander from Brentwood was projected to be in the rotation to open the season, but he has been out since March 20 with a right forearm strain.

On Friday, Blackburn threw his second flat-ground session, all fastballs, and he said he’ll throw all fastballs Sunday. He’s likely to throw live batting practice late next week. “We’re moving,” he said. Blackburn, 24, is eligible to come off the 60-day DL on May 25 but early June might be more realistic, given that he needs to go on a rehab assignment and build up his innings to get ready to start.

Briefly: Reliever Ryan Buchter (shoulder) said he is improving but he has not yet resumed throwing . ... The A’s announced they will give away a Sean Manaea no-hitter bobblehead Sept. 21.