Oakland Athletics Place Starter on Injured List with Foot Injury

Paul Blackburn Lands on Injured List

The A’s are a better team than last season. They head into the week sitting in third place in the American League West with a record of 19-21. The solid start is generating buzz as one of baseball’s early surprise teams. Oakland has an offense whose 55 home runs through 42 games are the fourth-most in the majors. As for Blackburn, he didn’t allow a run through his first 22 1/3 innings. He set an Oakland record for the longest season-opening scoreless streak by a starting pitcher. However, Blackburn has been more hittable of late since that scoreless stretch, allowing 31 earned runs in his 26 2/3 innings, with at least six runs in two of his past three outings.

The Athletics Rotation without Blackburn

Blackburn’s absence leaves the A’s starting rotation with JP Sears, Joey Estes, Alex Wood and Ross Stripling. Lucas was promoted on Wednesday and made two appearances with the Als. The left-hander allowed three runs over 2 1/3 innings with two walks and six strikeouts. He’s 2-0 with a 2.87 ERA and .699 opponents OPS in 11 games. He made his major league debut with Oakland last season, compiling a 9.00 RRA and .940 opponents OPS in eight relief appearances with the A’s overall.

Estes, Oakland’s No. 11 prospect, delivered in his first major league win on Saturday. He retired 12 of his final 13 batters in his first start of the season. Estes went on to finish after five innings on 61 pitches and allowing one run on two hits and no walks with five strikeouts. The A’s see Estes as a long-term piece of their future. He will likely stay in the rotation after Blackburn and Joe Boyle out. A’s manager Mark Kotsay revealed that Wood was bothered by a shoulder injury during his start on Sunday. Wood has up five runs on four hits and one walk with one strikeout. His velocity was well down compared to his season-long average of 90.5 mph.