SFGate.com · Sep 6, 2016
A’s Sean Doolittle come off DL on a good note
With the A’s in the auditions-for-next-season portion of the year, shortstop Marcus Semien is getting an increasing amount of time in the leadoff spot.
After all, two of the team’s leadoff options, Coco Crisp and Billy Burns, have departed in trades, and Semien has good speed, as does Jake Smolinski, who will get time in the leadoff spot against left-handed starters.
Semien is getting accustomed to the role: He’s 9-for-47 with two walks and 13 strikeouts in 12 starts, but he doubled and scored in the first Monday and added another double in the sixth. The previous day, Semien broke up Eduardo Rodriguez’s no-hitter in the eighth.