OAKLAND - Their pitching staff got banged up throughout the night, but the A's hope the only lasting damage they absorbed Tuesday night was on the scoreboard.
In the process of an 11-9 defeat to the Miami Marlins, they lost starting pitcher Jesse Hahn to a strained triceps and first baseman Yonder Alonso to a contusion on his right hand and wrist.
The early diagnosis showed they may have dodged a bullet with Alonso - X-rays came back negative for a fracture after he was hit flush in the wrist area on a pitch from lefty Jarlin Garcia. Alonso initially walked off the field after being hit, but after a few moments re-emerged and took first base to run. He was replaced on defense in the seventh.
"I've had some history with my hand," Alonso said afterward. "I broke it three or four years ago. At the time when I got hit, I felt like that was the case all over again. The pain started going away, that's when I realized I think I'm OK."
Alonso's wrist and hand began to swell while he was running the bases, and he had to exit the game. The first baseman had missed the four previous games with a sore left knee, then proceeded to homer in his first at-bat Tuesday, pulling him back into a tie with Khris Davis for the team homer lead at 13. Suffering another injury in the same game could be classified as rotten timing, but Alonso came away feeling fortunate all things considered.
"I think we got very lucky," he said. "It got me right on the wrist but a little bit on the hand as well. We're lucky that there's no break. You just gotta move forward."
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Manager Bob Melvin said Alonso would be a game-time decision for whether he'll start Wednesday afternoon's series finale, but with the A's off Thursday, it wouldn't be a surprise if they rested Alonso in an attempt to let him heal up for Friday's road trip opener against the Yankees.
Hahn's condition seems more ambiguous, and perhaps more troubling. He said he felt fine warming up before Tuesday's game, but when he took the mound to warm up before the third, he experienced a drop in velocity and couldn't figure out why.
"I experienced some tightness near my triceps and a big velocity decrease," Hahn said. "The ball wasn't coming out (well) at all. It was a weird feeling. I've dealt with elbow (problems) before. Usually for me when I have elbow pain I can feel it on my pitches, and I didn't feel it. It was kinda weird. … It almost felt like a dead arm."
Hahn gave up a leadoff single to Christian Yelich in the third, then was taken out of the game. Afterward, he and the training staff discussed the possibility of getting an MRI but nothing had been set in stone.
"I'm throwing the ball as hard as I can and I see 89-90 on the board," Hahn said. "I know something's not right. But at the same time, I'm not feeling anything. It leaves you thinking. To be in that state of mind on the mound is not good."
Should the A's need to fill Hahn's rotation spot the next time through, and should they want to dip into the minor league ranks, Daniel Mengden is on the same turn with Triple-A Nashville and threw seven scoreless innings Tuesday (81 pitches). He's on the 40-man roster. Jharel Cotton and Daniel Gossett also are coming off great outings for Nashville, though their turns in the rotation don't line up as good with Hahn's.
