Davis gets Monday off to help hip recovery
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CLEVELAND -- For the second time in three games, Khris Davis is out of the A’s lineup.
A nagging left hip contusion continues to affect Davis. A’s manager Bob Melvin is still ruling out a stint on the injured list, but said a day off here and there will be necessary, at least for the near future.
“We’ve been talking about it being day to day. If he doesn’t play a day, we gain some ground and when he plays, it stays the same,” Melvin said before Oakland's 6-4 win over Cleveland at Progressive Field. “We’re incrementally trying to gain a little ground and get him better. Hopefully, he feels that much better and he can play, but at this point, we don’t feel like it’s an IL situation.”
The A’s have good reason to avoid placing Davis on the IL -- he’s been their best hitter in the month of May, hitting .351 with two home runs and six RBIs.
“You can see his swings,” Melvin said. “They’re not max effort, but he’s finding ways to get some hits.
“We just don’t want it to go backward. The last time he had an off day, he felt better the next day. Hopefully, that’s the case going into tomorrow.”
Kaprielian returns to game action
James Kaprielian, one of three prospects acquired from the New York Yankees in exchange for Sonny Gray back in 2017, pitched two innings at Class A Advanced Stockton on Sunday before the game was suspended due to rain.
It was a milestone for the 25-year-old right-hander, who had not pitched in an actual game since 2016 after dealing with various injuries over the past few years, including Tommy John surgery in 2017. He also missed most of Spring Training as he was shut down with a strained lat muscle.
Drafted 16th overall by the Yankees in 2015, Kaprielian was a top-10 prospect with New York at the time of the trade and is still a pitcher who carries high expectations for the A’s.
“We were concerned in Spring Training,” Melvin said. “There was a period of time where he just didn’t feel very good. So the fact he’s had good days recently and is performing in games is encouraging. This is a guy that was a big part of a big trade for us and we felt at some point in time, pretty quickly, he would be in the big leagues. He’s got good stuff and finally consistently feeling good.”