
HOUSTON — A’s outfielder Coco Crisp has no plans to appeal his one-game suspension, saying he deserved it for tossing his bat in the direction of home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn on Thursday night.
Crisp will serve the suspension during Friday night’s game against the Astros. He’ll take batting practice and go through pregame drills, but since he can’t stay at Minute Maid Park, he plans to watch the game at the team hotel.
Crisp was ejected in the fifth inning Thursday after he tossed his bat in Reyburn’s direction after a strikeout, based on his displeasure with a called strike earlier in the at-bat. A statement from Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB’s senior V.P. of Standards and On-Field Operations, said the suspension was for “intentionally throwing his bat in the direction of home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn, which struck Reyburn on the foot.”
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[NEWS: Coco Crisp suspended one game for bat toss]
Crisp said he still doesn’t believe his bat made contact with Reyburn, but felt the suspension was warranted “not for my intentions, but for what actually happened. Because it came so close, I feel like I deserve the suspension.”
He added that he plans to apologize to Reyburn in person sometime during the four-game series.
A’s manager Bob Melvin took note of Crisp’s apologetic tone in his postgame comments Thursday and thought the outfielder handled things the right way.
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“He was frustrated and certainly didn’t mean to throw the bat at (Reyburn),” Melvin said. “He’s taking his medicine today.”
[STIGLICH: Crisp apologetic after bat toss that earned ejection]
Billy Burns is starting in center field Friday and batting ninth. With Crisp unavailable, Melvin went unconventional with the top of his order, using second baseman Jed Lowrie to lead off and left fielder Khris Davis to bat second.
It’s just the second start of the season for both players in those spots in the order.
“I’d been looking to shake it up a little bit anyway,” Melvin said. “We go through stretches when we’re really good offensively and then we go stagnant, and I think those are the times you need to mix it up a little bit anyway.”
Crisp showed a touch of humor when talking about his plan to watch the game back at the A’s hotel.
“I’m not gonna go into the stands to watch the game, although it’d be a different perspective,” he said. “Maybe I can boo some of their players. I’m just joking.”
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Melvin said Rich Hill and Sonny Gray would start the A’s first two games coming out of the All-Star break, July 15-16 against Toronto at The Coliseum. The rest of the rotation isn’t set in stone, but he said the other three starters would probably stay in the order they are now. If that’s the case, then Daniel Mengden would follow Gray, then Kendall Graveman and Sean Manaea would start next.
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The A’s agreed to terms with right-hander Logan Shore, their second-round draft pick, as well as left-hander Ty Damron (15th round) and catcher Collin Theroux (32nd round). Theroux attended Serra High in San Mateo. Shore got a $1.5 million signing bonus.