OAKLAND — Dillon Overton wound up making a relatively quick return trip to the major leagues.
The left-hander joined the A’s from Triple-A Nashville on Monday and will be added to the 25-man roster Tuesday to start that night against the Houston Astros. The need arose when Sean Manaea, the scheduled starter Tuesday, got called upon for emergency duty Sunday after Rich Hill left the game with a blister issue and Andrew Triggs suffered a calf contusion.
Overton, 24, made two starts for the A’s in late June during his first big league call-up and had mixed results. He earned the victory in his debut at Anaheim on June 25, then got roughed up for eight runs against the Giants five days later and was sent down. Overton turned in two good starts upon his return to Nashville, combining to allow four earned runs over 13 innings with nine strikeouts and one walk.
He worked on pounding the ball inside to hitters with Nashville, something that he said he got away from against the Giants.
“I wasn’t working in to as many hitters as much as I wanted to, so I wasn’t able to open up the outside part of the plate with my changeup,” Overton said. “Usually I like to throw way in to hitters and use the changeup on the other side. (Against the Giants) I wasn’t able to do that. I just went back to that when I went down and everything was going good.”
Whether Overton sticks around for a while depends on Rich Hill’s status. Manager Bob Melvin said before Monday’s game that there was no update on Hill after a blister on his left middle finger busted open in the first inning of Sunday’s start. Hill said after that game it would be three or four days, most likely, before he tried throwing again. His next start is undetermined, and it’s a storyline that will be watched around the majors as Hill is one of the top trade targets as the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline approaches.
**
Catcher Josh Phegley, recovering from minor knee surgery, is recovering well and should begin baseball activity soon. Reliever Sean Doolittle (left shoulder strain) is still tentatively on target to begin throwing next week.
