OAKLAND – Outfielder Ramón Laureano, who hasn’t played for two weeks with a strained left oblique, will remain out of the A’s lineup for at least another week after he came away late from Saturday’s on-field workout.
Manager Mark Kotsay said Laureano will remain in Oakland during the A’s six-game road trip through Washington and Baltimore that starts Tuesday. Laureano hasn’t played since Aug. 14 and was placed on the 10-day injured list the next day.
Laureano had been feeling progressively better in recent days and on Saturday, increased the intensity of his on-field workload. But Laureano felt discomfort after he ran the bases, and the team wants to now take a cautious approach.
Kotsay did not want to call it a setback for Laureano, but there is no timeline for when he might be able to return. Laureano is hitting .223 with a .695 OPS in 84 games this season.
“With these injuries. If I gave you a timeline, we’d probably be wrong,” Kotsay said.
BACK IN THE BIGS: Cristian Pache was recalled by the A’s from Triple-A Las Vegas on Sunday but Kotsay said there’s no guarantee the outfielder will be with the team for the remainder of the season.
Pache, who made the A’s Opening Day roster out of spring training, was officially brought up with pitcher Adrián Martínez prior to the A’s four-game series finale with the New York Yankees. Martínez started the game and Pache was en route to Oakland on Sunday morning.
Pache proved to be a major league-caliber outfielder in the first half of the season for the A’s but had his struggles at the plate, particularly against right-handed pitching.
Against righties, Pache hit just .134 with a .365 OPS in 142 plate appearances. He hit .209 with a .548 OPS in 72 plate appearances against lefties before he was optioned to Triple-A on June 30, and had remained in Las Vegas up until this weekend.
“We’re going to continue to make improvements to look at his mechanics. Get him a little more direct to the baseball,” Kotsay said. “He’s still getting lefties well. We’ll pick our spots with him. Just kind of continuing to evaluate him and continuing to coach him.”
Pache’s presence gives the A’s a right-handed centerfield bat to go with Cal Stevenson, who started in center on Sunday.
Las Vegas’ regular season continues throughout next month before the start of the Pacific Coast League playoffs on Sept. 30.
Given the fluidity of the A’s roster, Kotsay said, “I would not want to say (Pache’s) going to stay here the whole season. We brought him here right now obviously with the necessity in terms of flexibility for the outfield, but we’ll continue to evaluate that.”
JIMENEZ UPDATE: Rookie Right-hander Dany Jiménez, who was placed on the 60-day injured list Saturday with a strained right shoulder, said he won’t need surgery in the offseason.
Jiménez had shoulder issues near the midway point of the season and was on the injured list from June 19 to Aug. 1. He made nine appearances after his return but said he felt shoulder strain again after his last appearance on Aug. 24 against Miami, when he blew a save in the ninth inning.
Jiménez, who went 3-4 with 11 saves and a 3.41 ERA in 34 relief appearances, expects to be ready for the start of spring training in February.
“No surgery for me, thankfully,” Jiménez said. “Just resting and trying to recover and get ready for next season.”