CHICAGO -- Before the start of Sunday's 5-3 series-sweeping win over the White Sox, A's manager Bob Melvin said he expected second baseman Jed Lowrie to see a doctor in Houston on Monday for a slight sprain of his right knee.
After the game, the possibility remained. But in between, Lowrie felt well enough to come off the bench, delivering a key RBI single in the seventh inning that jump-started Oakland's late-inning push to victory.
"I felt good," said Lowrie, who suffered the injury Friday. "Inflammation went down a lot, and I was able to take swings in the cage. It responded well to treatment."
Still, Melvin could hardly believe it when Lowrie alerted him of his availability in-game.
"In the fifth inning," Lowrie said, "he came to me and said, 'Really? You're available?'"
From that moment on, Melvin contemplated the perfect situational spot for the veteran, finding it in the seventh with two outs and runners at the corners. Lowrie stepped to the plate in place of rookie Jaycob Brugman, sending a 1-1 offering from White Sox reliever Dan Jennings into the right-field corner, giving Oakland its first run.
Lowrie, despite running to second without any issues, was immediately lifted for pinch-runner Matt Joyce.
"At that point, it's a lot of adrenaline, so I didn't really feel it running to second, and there weren't any adverse effects afterwards," he said.
Lowrie wasn't sure whether his Monday off-day in Houston would include a doctor's visit, saying, "We're still trying to figure that out."
The A's are already without shortstop Marcus Semien (wrist surgery), who is on a Minor League rehab assignment, and third baseman Matt Chapman, who was released from the hospital on Sunday after being treated treated for a left knee infection. Chapman is eligible to return from the disabled list Thursday.
"I know he's been making significant strides," Melvin said of Chapman. "This has been really good for him, the drop of the antibiotics. Once he gets out of there, they want to make sure there's no complications, so we want to be a little conservative, and we can since he's on the DL."
Semien went 3-for-5 with a home run in his second rehab game with Class-A Advanced Stockton on Saturday night.