Khris Davis leaves Sunday game with hip contusion

The Oakland A’s nightmare road trip added another piece of bad news on Sunday, as Khris Davis exited the game against the Pirates in the 2nd inning with a left hip contusion. His status is day-to-day, reports Ben Ross of NBCS.

Davis is normally the team’s DH, but that role wasn’t available in the NL park in Pittsburgh so he was playing left field instead. The first Pirates batter of the game popped the ball up into foul territory and Davis sprinted over to make a fine running catch, but in doing so he slammed into the wall. Specifically, he appeared to collide with a padded railing, and then immediately reacted in visible pain.

Davis remained in the game at the time, but he was lifted in the 2nd inning and replaced by Chad Pinder. Later on in the 9th, Pinder had his own encounter with the same LF wall, slamming into it to catch another foul ball just a few feet deeper than where Davis had done so. Pinder also looked shaken up after his catch, but stayed in the game.

The severity of Khrush’s injury is not yet known, nor whether he’ll have to miss any time, so stay tuned for updates. The A’s are off Monday as they head home to the Coliseum.

Khrush was already having a tough time even before the injury. He’s mired in a 12-for-63 slump (.190) with no homers in his last 18 games, including 15 contests since signing a hefty contract extension. He last went deep on April 12 against Texas.

UPDATE: Good news, via Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle: “Khris Davis says he’s already feeling better. Hip stiffened up so much he felt he wouldn’t be able to help the team but he thinks he might be OK to go Tuesday.”

Other A’s injuries

Quick updates on a few other players:

• RHP Blake Treinen was unavailable over the weekend with elbow discomfort, reports Slusser. The All-Star closer doesn’t sound particularly worried about it, but of course anytime a pitcher has an elbow problem you can’t help but hold your breath. Check out Slusser’s full writeup, and also her followup story with an encouraging update.
• 1B Matt Olson could return as soon as Tuesday, reports Slusser. Olson is on a rehab assignment in Triple-A and has played there the last five days, with a homer on Friday and two hits on Sunday. He hasn’t played in the majors since the mid-March games in Japan due to a broken hamate in his hand/wrist, but at this point the injury is resolved and it’s just a matter of getting back in the swing of things.
• LHP Sean Manaea is scheduled to throw a bullpen session next week, reports Slusser. It would be his first since undergoing shoulder surgery in September. RHP Jharel Cotton is also progressing in his own recovery from Tommy John surgery last March.
• OF Nick Martini “will run the bases Tuesday and might then head on a rehab assignment,” reports Slusser. For more on Martini’s recovery, check out this story from Joe Stevenson of the Northwest Herald, his hometown paper. Martini’s knee injury was deemed a Grade 2 PCL tear, “a partial tear with some instability.”
• Down on the farm, C Sean Murphy has a torn meniscus in his left knee, reports Melissa Lockard of The Athletic. She adds the following note: “Often a 4-6 week recovery but for catchers can be a bit longer.” Entering the year he looked like a good bet to arrive in Oakland sooner than later, but that will now have to wait at least a couple months.

Analysis: There’s some good news on this list. Getting Olson back will be huge, on both sides of the ball, as the lineup needs all the help it can get at the plate right now and his Gold Glove has a huge effect on the team’s defense. That’s the kind of spark the A’s could really use amid their current slump.

But dang, the bad news is bad. Treinen is the most important pitcher on the roster, and losing him for any amount of time (much less long-term) would be a serious problem. He might turn out just fine, but Athletics Nation will surely be in panic mode until we see him back on the mound. And then add in the loss of Murphy, who was off to a wonderful start in Las Vegas and seemed primed to make an impact in the majors at Oakland’s weakest position, and now a scare with Khrush, and things are going downhill quickly. That the A’s just dropped 8-of-9 games on their trip is beginning to seem like an afterthought.

Best of luck to all the injured A’s in their recoveries!