J.T. Ginn has start pushed back to later this week

Basso gave up a run on two hits and a groundout in the first inning. After a scoreless second, the Angels got to him again in the third with three straight hits to drive in a run before Denzer Guzman took him deep for a three-run blast. Basso walked the following batter and was relieved without recording an out in the inning. The 28-year-old left-hander will take a 5.36 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, and a 30/9 K/BB ratio across 42 innings into Sunday’s season finale against the Astros in Sacramento.

It’s merely a procedural move to open up a spot on the Athletics’ 40-man roster with Ginn finished for the year with an elbow impingement.

The Rays came out ready to swing it against Basso. Their first four batters of the game each put a ball in play that was hit at least 102 mph and had two runs on the board by the end of the inning. Two more runs in the second put Basso in the hole early and he didn’t even make it out of the third inning. This came after a few decent abbreviated starts though and he’ll have a chance to close his season on a high-note next week against the Angels at home.

The 27-year-old right-hander has made very slow progress in his recovery from a right elbow impingement and with only a couple of weeks left, it sounds like the A’s may just shut him down completely. If he doesn’t get it addressed surgically over the winter, it’s possible that the issue could linger into the 2027 season.

It was the longest outing of the season for Basso, who threw 68 pitches against Toronto. Four relievers then combined to complete the shutout against the low-scoring Jays, who entered Wednesday with the second-fewest runs per game in MLB. Basso’s lack of length keeps him off the fantasy radar ahead of his next matchup, on the road against the Rays.

The A’s were hopeful that Ginn would just need to have his start pushed back and that he wouldn’t require a trip to the injured list, but unfortunately they couldn’t wait any longer for him to return. Jack Perkins was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move to take his place on the club’s active roster.

Ginn gave up homers to Brooks Lee, Trevor Larnach and Kaelen Culpepper, but thanks to the A’s coming up with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, he improved to 9-8 on the season. He’s the first A’s starter to surrender three homers and win since Cole Irvin on Sept. 17, 2022. He’ll face the Rangers next Tuesday.

Ginn kept the Astros off the board for the first three innings despite allowing four baserunners over that span, but in the fourth inning, the Astros would make him pay for allowing the first two runners to reach base. With runners on second and third and no outs, Christian Walker would hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Isaac Paredes, and in the fifth inning, Ginn would give up back-to-back doubles to Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes, pushing the Astros’ lead to 3-0. Ginn has allowed three earned runs or fewer in four of his last five starts and will look to put together another solid outing in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday at home against the Twins.

Ginn struck out seven and walked none, but he gave up eight hits, including a two-run homer to Wyatt Langford. As a result, he took his first loss of the second half and dropped to 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA. He has a favorable matchup in Kansas City coming up next week.

It’s a third straight quality start for Ginn. He has 11 of those in 21 starts this season, which is pretty good for someone who opened up as a mop-up man. He’ll likely make his next start Saturday at home against the Rangers.