Oakland Athletics receive good news about Marcus Semien injury
By Justin Fried
The Oakland Athletics received good news about shortstop Marcus Semien’s injury.
The Oakland Athletics haven’t exactly been enjoying the best fortunes as of late. But the latest news regarding shortstop Marcus Semien is at least some semblance of good news.
The A’s have had three of their last five games postponed and the only two that weren’t postponed, the team lost to their division rivals, the Houston Astros.
Oakland was set to square off with the Astros in the series finale on Sunday, but that was before reports of a positive test for COVID-19 halted those plans.
As Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports, it was an A’s player who tested positive and it remains unclear when the team will return to the field again. For now, it’s likely they miss at least a few games — hopefully nothing too much longer.
So from losses to postponements, it hasn’t been an easy few days for the A’s. However, the Semien news does provide some level of optimism.
The Oakland Athletics at least caught a break with the Marcus Semien news.
Semien was held out of Saturday’s second game of a doubleheader against the Astros after dealing with what is being described as “left side soreness.”
The 2019 American League MVP finalist reportedly first felt the soreness in his side during pre-game warmups and manager Bob Melvin made the decision to scratch him ahead of the game.
As a result, Semien’s 276-game streak of consecutive starts was ended as third baseman Matt Chapman shifted over to shortstop. Given the lack of shortstop depth on the A’s roster, losing Semien for any significant period of time would be a major blow.
Fortunately, the report on his status seems to be overwhelmingly positive.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported on Sunday that there was “no serious issue” with Semien and that he’s only expected to be out for a short period of time. The MRI results revealed that there was no damage and the injury has officially been confirmed as “left side soreness.”
And given the fact that it’s unknown when the A’s will play their next game, there’s a good chance that Saturday’s game is the only one he ends up missing.
Next. Oakland Athletics: Positive COVID-19 test postpones series finale against the Astros. dark
The A’s will look to get back on track whenever they return to the diamond. And fortunately, there’s a good chance that they’ll have Semien with them when they do.