Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, the A's top prospect, made an immediate and notable arrival in the major leagues Friday, one of four players added to the roster.
Making his debut, Gonzalez started in center and batted eighth, and he smacked doubles in his first two major-league at-bats. Gonzalez was obtained in the deal that sent starter Dan Haren to Arizona in December. Travis Buck returned to the big-league club after his rehab assignment at Sacramento turned into an optional assignment, and he was back in right field and in the leadoff spot. He hit .154 in April with Oakland, and Friday Buck said he was putting too much pressure on himself and he'd worked some things out at Sacramento, where he was batting .337.
At 28, Brad Ziegler, a right-hander side-arming reliever, was called up to the big leagues for the first time, and A's bullpen regular Kiko Calero is back after rehabbing a torn rotator cuff after missing much of last year.
The moves were necessitated by some nagging injuries -- DH Mike Sweeney has a sore left knee and outfielder Ryan Sweeney has a badly bruised left foot -- along with a more significant injury: reliever Joey Devine, who hasn't worked all week, said an MRI showed that he has a strained ulnar collateral ligament. He will not throw for four to seven days and then begin light tossing, and he could be out roughly three to six weeks.
Left-hander Lenny DiNardo was designated for assignment to make room on the big-league roster and the 40-man roster. Sacramento infielder Kevin Melillo also was designated for assignment because the A's had to get both Ziegler and Calero onto the 40-man roster.
RANGERS 3, A'S 1: Carlos Gonzalez, making his big-league debut, was one of the few A's who hit the ball well at Arlington on Friday, doubling in his first two at-bats. The second drove in Oakland's only run against Kevin Millwood. More typical of the A's night was DH Jack Cust, who struck out four times, the first three looking.
