OAKLAND – It will be difficult for Stephen Piscotty to get through the night he had on Thursday.
A’s outfielder kicked off an 8-4 victory over the Tigers with a lone shot in the third inning, which was belted out with a speed of 109.6 mph and went 404 feet to the left on Statcast , who scored the second straight game with a home run and qualified as the most hit ball of the night. A few hours later, Piscotty left the Colosseum in the seventh half to join his wife, Carrie, who gave birth to their first child, a boy.
“He left in the middle of the game,” said A’s manager, Bob Melvin. “They had a baby boy. I know he’s pretty excited about it, just like us. ”
He placed Piscotty on the paternity list before Friday’s game against the Tigers. He could be on the list for up to three days, and Melvin said he expects to be on vacation for at least the next two days.
Vimael Machín, the utility coordinator, was called from A’s alternative training site in Stockton, California, to take Piscotty’s place in the list of 26 people. Machín’s versatility offers the club the potential to offer a day off to shortstop Elvis Andrus, who came in on Friday after starting all 13 games this season.
“It simply came to our notice then [Elvis] a respirator. Just don’t tell him right now, “Melvin joked. “It simply came to our notice then. I really didn’t have anyone who could play this position. We’re going to give some boys a few days off now, because we have better staff to do that right now. ”
Irons increase the number of tones
Mike Fiers (lumbar strain) could be just a start of rehabilitation away from joining A’s rotation. The player on the right threw 77 pitches at A’s alternate spot in a fighting game against the Giants Minor Leaguers Thursday afternoon. His next and eventual final step will be to throw about 90 pitches in an outing to the alternative place on Tuesday.
“Everything has to go well and he has to be healthy,” Melvin said. “We will try to take him to the age of 90 [April 20]and then we’ll try to do something. ”
It is unclear how the A’s will reconfigure their pitching staff to integrate Fiers back into the mix. One possibility is that left-hander Cole Irvin, who started the season in rotation in place of Fiers, will move to the bullpen in a relief role.