First rainout in three years a welcome sight for A's; game rescheduled

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UPDATE (2:15pm PT on Sunday): The game between the A's and Astros that was rained out Sunday will be made up on Saturday, Sept. 9 as a traditional doubleheader.

The first game will be played at the regularly scheduled time of 1:05pm. First pitch of the second game will occur approximately 25 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Tickets for the originally scheduled Sept. 9 game will be valid for both games. April 16 game tickets will not be valid for the Sept. 9 doubleheader.

Fans holding tickets for the postponed April 16 game can be exchanged for any future 2017 A's game.

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OAKLAND — The A’s had their first home rainout in three years Sunday, with no makeup date immediately announced for their game against the Houston Astros.

Players and coaches scattered about shortly after the late-morning announcement came down, some heading out to celebrate Easter with their families, or to watch the Warriors’ playoff game, or perhaps both.

Rainouts are a rarity indeed at the Coliseum. The A’s last home rainout came April 1, 2014, though three days after that, the team was forced to postgame a game when the traps weren’t put out and early-morning rain made the field unplayable.

At any rate, Sunday’s postponement was welcomed by A’s manager Bob Melvin from the standpoint that his overworked bullpen received an unexpected day off.

“You look at how the bullpen has been taxed here the last couple of days. We went from having a fresh bullpen to not having a fresh bullpen,” Melvin said. “If there’s silver linings as far as that goes, that would probably be the one that stands out the most for me.”

A’s starters Kendall Graveman and Sean Manaea threw just five innings each over the past two days, pressing the relief corps into action early. Melvin called four relievers into duty Friday and five Saturday to cover a total of eight innings, including Ryan Dull throwing both days. So as the Warriors and their fans geared up next door for Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, the tarp was out on Rickey Henderson Field inside the Coliseum.

The A’s are keeping their rotation the same, meaning all the starters simply get an extra day off. Jharel Cotton will pitch Monday’s series opener against the Texas Rangers, with Andrew Triggs going Tuesday and Jesse Hahn on Wednesday.

One date being considered for the makeup game, according to Melvin, is Sept. 7. That's an off-day for both the A's and Astros, as they're scheduled to begin a series at the Coliseum the very next day.

Also Sunday, the A’s placed shortstop Marcus Semien on the 10-day disabled list and recalled infielder Chad Pinder to take his roster spot. Semien has been diagnosed with a bone contusion in his right wrist, but a CT scan is scheduled for Monday to explore whether the injury might be more severe.

“They want to rest it and find out through the CT scan tomorrow what exactly it is,” Semien said. “(Is it) what initially the doctor said, which was a bone contusion, or if anything else is going on in there. We’ve gotta find out what the timetable would be either way. If it’s not broken, fractured or whatever, we’ll just take this 10 days to rest it and see where we go from there. We want to get it better than it is for sure.”

Melvin said Adam Rosales takes over as the primary shortstop for now, with Pinder backing up both him and second baseman Jed Lowrie.

 

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