Sonny Gray has been lights out for the A's. (Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)
OAKLAND, Calif. — The A’s haven’t had much good news this year, and that trend continued Tuesday when ace Sonny Gray was scratched from his scheduled start against Colorado with severe flu-like symptoms.
“He’s feeling better today than he did last night, but he’s still in the hospital right now and doing some additional tests,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said before the A’s 2-1 loss to Colorado. “It hit him pretty hard.”
Melvin said he won’t know when Gray will be able to pitch again “until we find out exactly what’s wrong with him.”
Melvin said Gray started feeling some symptoms a few days ago.
“Then last night it got a lot worse for him,” Melvin said. “He didn’t feel great during the day and it got worse last night to the point where they had to bring him into the hospital. Talked to him this morning and he still sounded pretty weak, but he said a lot better than he felt later last night.”
Gray is 9-3 with a 2.09 ERA this season.
The A’s called up right-hander Chris Bassitt from Triple-A Nashville to start against the Rockies. Bassitt traveled much of the day then pitched on three day’s rest. Somehow he allowed just one run on five hits over five innings in his first start for the A’s.
“I felt OK,” Bassitt said. “Short rest is never good for anybody. I’m used to throwing a side (session) on the fourth day so I told myself, ‘All right, this will be a really extended side.’ I didn’t have much feel tonight so I just pounded the zone and hoped for the best.”
