A's Likely Calling up This Pitcher for Wednesday's Doubleheader

The Oakland A's dropped Sunday's finale against the Miami Marlins, 12-3, snapping the team's six-game win streak in the process. Big right-hander Joe Boyle got the start in that one, and was pulled after an ineffective inning with a lower back injury. Sonja Chen of MLB.com says that he will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury on Monday.

Boyle has an ERA of 7.16 through seven starts this season, and regardless of the outcome of the MRI, there's a chance that Oakland could look to make a change in the rotation.

The A's also have a scheduled double-header for Wednesday against the Texas Rangers, which means that they'll need to call up a player to serve as their 27th man. That player will presumably be a pitcher that will start one of the two games, or be someone that can go a few innings to pair with Kyle Muller or Mitch Spence as a trial run in the rotation.

Looking at the A's 40-man roster, they have three pitchers on the 40-man roster that are currently in Triple-A Las Vegas. The first is Hogan Harris, who has a 9.00 ERA through six starts and holds a 1.95 WHIP, so it's probably not him.

That would leave either Joey Estes, who debuted with Oakland at the end of last season, or offseason addition Osvaldo Bido, who also has MLB experience.

Out of those two players, the answer is Bido. Not only has he pitched a lot better (2.59 ERA to 6.04 for Estes), but he's also lined up better to pitch on Wednesday with his last start coming on May 2. That would give him five days of rest in between starts, if the A's decide to hold him until Wednesday's game.

In Bido's last start he went seven scoreless innings and gave up just two hits, walked one, and struck out eight. One way or another, we're likely to see the 28-year-old make his A's debut this week. If he pitches well, maybe the team keeps him around for a little while.