Oakland A's Edward Mujica will be placed on disabled list with fractured thumb

Reliever Edward Mujica of the Oakland Athletics exited the bottom of the seventh inning of Thursday night's contest against the Tampa Bay Rays after his right hand was hit by a hard comebacker, resulting in a fractured thumb, the club told beat reports after the game, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser.

Mujica was able to complete a putout at first base but could not continue after nine pitches. Right-handed pitcher Fernando Rodriguez took Mujica's place.

Vogt notes that Mujica still made play on comebacker with right thumb split open and fractured. Tough dude. Muncy had blood in his glove.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) May 22, 2015

The A's acquired Mujica from the Boston Red Sox for cash considerations on May 9. Including tonight's contest, he gave up no earned runs for the Athletics in 5⅓ innings, though he allowed the one runner he inherited from starting pitcher Jesse Chavez to score. He has a 3.32 ERA overall this year.

Mujica is the fourth player since May 11 to exit in the middle of a game with an injury, with Ike Davis, Drew Pomeranz, and Coco Crisp all exiting their contests prematurely over the last 11 days.

Minor league choices

The A's have gone through every relief option on their 40-man roster: R.J. Alvarez and Ryan Cook were returned to Triple-A for poor performance. Chris Bassitt and Sean Nolin are both expected to work as starting pitchers.

The A's don't have to find another reliever, at least in terms of having enough arms in the pen, their quality notwithstanding. They were already rolling with eight relievers pending Kendall Graveman's start Saturday, and Graveman could simply take Mujica's place on the roster, rather than a different reliever.