Alika Williams held out of lineup again on Sunday

It’s the second straight game that Williams has missed due to upper extremity soreness. He’s still considered day-to-day. Donovan Walton will start in his place at shortstop and will bat sixth for the A’s against Astros’ ace Hunter Brown on Friday evening in West Sacramento.

It doesn’t sound like anything overly serious, but with just three games to go over the weekend it’s also no guarantee that the 27-year-old sees the field again this season. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer will start in his place at shortstop and bat eighth against Peter Lambert and the Astros on Thursday evening in West Sacramento.

The 27-year-old has settled in as the team’s regular shortstop while Jacob Wilson has been sidelined, but he’ll get a breather in this one. Donovan Walton will slide over to cover short with Jeff McNeil manning second base and Tommy White starting at first base against Mariners’ right-hander George Kirby.

Both of Williams’ hits likely would have been caught if the Twins had Byron Buxton patrolling center field tonight. Or if they had Walker Jenkins there. Instead, though, it was Luke Keaschall, and he came up short of a running grab on the two-run triple and badly misplayed the double by coming in on the ball initially. That was great for Williams, who is now batting .268/.304/.416 in 161 plate appearances. That .720 OPS is 200 points better than his .519 mark from his 208 career major league plate appearances coming into the season.

There’s been no indication that Wilson will require a trip to the injured list after being scratched from Monday’s lineup with left shoulder soreness. It’ll be Darell Hernaiz taking over at shortstop with Alika Williams at second base in his absence. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Alika Williams takes over at shortstop. It’s somewhat encouraging that Wilson’s absence isn’t related to a finger issue that cost him time over the weekend. It’s also not his throwing shoulder. There should be some additional clarity on his status at some point later this week. The Athletics have been ravaged by injuries to key contributors and they’ll likely proceed with an abundance of caution here.

He’ll presumably head for X-rays to see if he sustained any fractures. Expect the Athletics to provide more information as soon as they get the results of those exams. Alika Williams replaced him at shortstop on Friday and would be in line for extended action there if Wilson is forced to miss any time.

Athletics’ manager Mark Kotsay called the issue manageable and said that they expect Wilson to return to manning the shortstop position on Tuesday. Alika Williams will start there in his place on Sunday and will bat seventh against Keider Montero and the Tigers as the A’s look to avoid a three-game series sweep.

It’s the fourth consecutive game that Wilson has missed due to a left shoulder injury, though he is improving and is once again expected to be available off the bench on Sunday. Ailka Williams will once again start in his place at shortstop and will bat ninth against Angels’ left-hander Sam Aldegheri.

Wilson left Wednesday’s game against San Francisco while dealing with an issue in his left shoulder, and the 24-year-old will be out of action for at least one game while recovering. Recently-promoted Alika Williams will handle shortstop duties while Wilson recovers.