OAKLAND -- The A’s could be adding some more thump to their lineup in the coming week.

Right fielder Stephen Piscotty will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Las Vegas, set to fly out Saturday to join the club on its current road series in El Paso, Texas. Piscotty will likely serve as the designated hitter in his first game Sunday and play seven innings on defense Monday. After a day off Tuesday, the target date for his return to Oakland will be dependent on how he feels at the plate.

“It’s going to be a ‘see how it goes’ type of thing,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He wants some at-bats. I think we’ll just feel it out and see how his leg is responding and how his at-bats go. I know he wants to feel good when he comes back here.”

The A’s have the luxury of giving Piscotty as much time as he needs to get right thanks to the trio of Robbie Grossman, Mark Canha and Chad Pinder, who have each picked up the load to provide solid production at the plate since Piscotty went down with a right knee sprain June 30 in Anaheim.

When Piscotty does finally return, the A’s will be getting back a slugger who finished third on the team in home runs last year with 27. He was batting .242 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs through 76 games before going down with the injury, but as the A’s found out in 2018 when he hit .285 and homered 12 times over the final two months of the season, the second half is often when Piscotty is at his best.

“He plays close to Gold Glove-caliber defense,” Melvin said. “The production we had from him last year, it will just add to the production we already get from our lineup.”

Mount Davis to open up
The tarps will come off the highest deck of the Coliseum on Aug. 24 for the Battle of the Bay between the A’s and Giants. It will be the first time the Mount Davis seats will be open since July 21, 2018, a game which also featured the A’s and Giants and set an attendance record of 56,310 fans.

“We invite the Green and Gold faithful to come out and join us again this year as we aim to hoist the Bay Bridge Trophy once again,” A’s President Dave Kaval said in a statement.

Concessions in the Mount Davis sections will be 50 percent off for fans sitting in the area. Tickets on Mount Davis are priced at $20 and are on sale now at athletics.com/tickets.