Cotton, who has been sidelined by a right thumb blister, totaled 65 pitches in his first rehab start, "so the prudent thing to do is let him go down, throw 85 pitches and when he comes back he's back to the 100-pitch mark," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "You don't want to just jam him back in here just for the sake of doing it."
Not when Smith is pitching like he belongs here. The right-hander, who last year was called up by the A's in a relief role for his first big league stint since 2010, has allowed just four earned runs in a combined 13 innings in his first two starts.