A’s slugger Seth Brown will be out 4-6 weeks with oblique strain
The way things are going for the Athletics so far this season, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the news on outfielder Seth Brown’s left oblique strain was more of a gut punch than a temporary annoyance.
“Our doctor examined him in Oakland,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay told reporters Tuesday before the A’s faced the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. “It was a Grade 2 strain of the left oblique and generally the timeline runs four to six weeks.”
The A’s have lost five straight and are 2-8, with the Orioles coming in at 5-5.
Brown was injured Saturday in Tampa Bay on a check swing and was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to April 9. But rather than being ready to go after the 10-day period, Brown will instead be out until early or late May and miss 30-plus games.
The A’s leading home run hitter (25) and RBI man (73) last season, Brown was for the first time getting an extended look hitting against left-handed pitching as well as right-handed pitching in hopes of developing into an everyday player rather than a platoon player.
Brown has just one home run and two RBIs over eight games this year, but had some tough-luck appearances at the plate and had some good swings off left-handed pitching before he was injured. The A’s, with just eight home runs in 10 games while giving up 20, can ill-afford to lose any power bats.
Conner Capel gets his second straight start Tuesday night in left in Brown’s absence. The A’s go into Tuesday night’s game having scored just one run in their last 27 innings. They took back-to-back 11-0 losses in Tampa Bay before scoring in the first inning against Baltimore Monday night and then being shut out for the last eight innings.
Ramón Laureano, the man who drove in the only run during that span with a run-scoring triple with two out in the first, was also out of the lineup Tuesday but Kotsay said it had to do with rest rather than incurring some sort of injury on his triple.
“We had a series in Tampa on the turf where he played all three,” Kotsay said. “We talked about him getting off his feet. Turf can do certain things to the muscles that you’re just not used to.”
Laureano also had the lone A’s hit on Sunday with a double in Tampa Bay. Seven of his nine hits this season have gone for extra bases, including two home runs. He is hitting .250.
The A’s went in to Tuesday night’s game with a team batting average of .198.
With both Brown and Laureano out of the lineup, the A’s starting outfield Tuesday night was Capel in left, Esteury Ruiz in center and Brent Rooker in right.
The A’s still have not named a starting pitcher for Thursday’s getaway day game against the Orioles and former teammate Cole Irvin. Kotsay said that would be determined by bullpen usage on Tuesday and Wednesday. Candidates include right-handers Adam Oller and Adrian Martinez.