Laureano, Phegley placed on injured list

OAKLAND -- Ramón Laureano has been at the forefront of the A’s success over the past two months, but if they’re going to keep their strong run going, it’s going to have to come without him for an extended period of time.

The A’s placed Laureano on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 29, with a right lower leg stress reaction before Wednesday’s game against the Brewers. After meeting with doctors Tuesday night, the center fielder was given a timetable of around four weeks for a return to action.

“That one stings,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “This guy is playing as good as anybody on our team and a true two-way player that gives you phenomenal defense. That’s where we have a guy like Mark Canha, and we feel like with Khris Davis swinging better, it’ll be a group effort to augment the production we get out of him.”

Canha will hold down center field with a majority of time at the position in Laureano’s absence, but replicating the production will be difficult.

Laureano was in the middle of a breakout campaign in what is his first full season in the Majors, batting .284 with 21 home runs and 58 RBIs. He also leads the club with 12 stolen bases and built his case for Player of the Month honors, hitting .392 with 22 runs, nine doubles, eight home runs and 18 RBIs in July.

Making his season even more impressive was the fact that he’s been playing the entirety of it with pain. Laureano said he began feeling the pain during the A’s Opening Series against the Mariners at the Tokyo Dome in Japan March 20-21.

“The turf over there, for me, whenever I hit the turf my leg was going sideways every step,” Laureano said. “If I was going to steal a bag, it would slide before I got there.”

The pain subsided when the club returned to Oakland but soon returned a few weeks later.

“When we went to Cleveland for a series in May, that’s when it really started bothering me,” Laureano said. “I said, ‘Screw it, I’m going to keep going.’ But it’s been pretty painful the last three weeks.”

The injury is felt more when he tries chasing down balls in the outfield, but Laureano said a slide into second base during a game against the Twins on July 20 was the clear indicator that he should start taking it easy as he compared the pain on the slide to somebody stabbing him in the tibia.

“If I keep going out there I might crack it and then it’s six to eight weeks in a walking boot or three months or a year. You never know,” Laureano said. “We want to play it safe. This is my first full season and I know I have a lot of years ahead of me. It’s tough because we’re playing so good and I want to be out there, but this is one of those lessons.”

Laureano will undergo various treatments to help the leg recover, “but number one is rest,” he said. “I get to sleep a lot and watch a lot of Netflix.”

Nick Martini was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to take Laureano’s spot on the active roster. He joins the A’s for the second time this year, previously called up July 22 for a brief stint that saw him go 0-for-2 and pitch a scoreless inning of relief in a blowout loss against the Astros. The outfielder was batting .332 with five home runs, 36 RBIs and a .435 on-base percentage in 60 games with Las Vegas.

Phegley to IL

Josh Phegley was also placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to July 29 with a left thumb contusion that was worse than the club had originally anticipated. Beau Taylor was called up from Triple-A and will serve as a backup catcher to Chris Herrmann.

“It’s a deeper bone bruise than we anticipated,” Melvin said. “He wasn’t having trouble grabbing the bat, it was more on the catching end. These things can linger. In the meantime, we have Beau here and hopefully giving Josh the 10 days, we get him back sooner than later.”

Phegley is batting .243 with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs, which leads AL catchers, in 82 games with the A’s.