Oakland A’s place Brett Anderson on DL, call up Ryan Dull

The Oakland A’s placed pitcher Brett Anderson on the 10-day disabled list on Saturday, the team announced. To take his spot on the roster, reliever Ryan Dull was called up from Triple-A Nashville.

Anderson started Friday night but left the game after one inning due to a shoulder strain. Despite his extensively long injury history, he’s never hit the DL due to his shoulder before, points out Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle. It was the second straight game in which Oakland’s started departed early due to injury, after Andrew Triggs experienced nerve irritation in his arm on Thursday. So far Anderson’s injury doesn’t appear serious, reports Slusser.

Anderson, 2018 MLB: 7.63 ERA, 15⅓ ip, 8 Ks, 6 BB, 3 HR, 5.82 FIP

The A’s went on to win Friday after Anderson’s departure thanks to eight clutch innings from the bullpen, but that left the relief corps tired after working overtime. The group threw a total of 14⅔ innings over the last two nights, with eight different pitchers chipping in. Dull was one of them on Thursday before being optioned to Triple-A to make room for reinforcements, but after having Friday off he’s relatively one of the more rested arms in the pen.

Dull is in a bit of a slump right now, having allowed runs in three of his last four games, but at this point physical availability and a pulse are two of the primary job requirements for this weekend. He’s back so soon, less than 24 hours after being optioned out, that he hadn’t even left Toronto yet, reports Slusser.

Dull, 2018 MLB: 6.30 ERA, 10 ip, 11 Ks, 4 BB, 2 HR, 4.74 FIP

The only relievers who haven’t appeared at all in the last two games are Emilio Pagan, who was called up on Friday, and long man Wilmer Font. There are now 10 total arms in the bullpen, though at least a few are surely unavailable on Saturday.

There will be more roster moves over the next week, as Oakland must add two more starting pitchers to replace Triggs and Anderson. The most likely replacements in Triple-A are Kendall Graveman and Daniel Gossett, two familiar faces who have already appeared in Oakland this year, though nothing is official yet. The next open spot in the rotation comes on Wednesday, which coincidentally would put Graveman on regular rest for his next turn. Here’s a full look at the pitching depth chart as it stands now:

10-day DL: RHP Andrew Triggs (arm nerve), LHP Brett Anderson (shoulder), LHP Ryan Buchter (shoulder), RHP Liam Hendriks (groin)

60-day DL: RHP Jharel Cotton (TJS), RHP Paul Blackburn (forearm)

AAA injuries: LHP A.J. Puk (TJS), RHP Grant Holmes (shoulder), RHP Kyle Finnegan