ANAHEIM -- Mark Canha’s night was cut short due to a left groin strain on Wednesday following an awkward throw at Angel Stadium, putting a damper on what was an otherwise thrilling 3-2 victory over the Angels.

Chasing down a line drive by Jared Walsh in left-center field to lead off the bottom of the seventh, Canha quickly picked up the ball and made an off-balance throw to Chad Pinder at second base before falling to the ground in pain.

“My groin kind of grabbed on me,” Canha said.” It was a ball that I normally would get to, and I didn’t because a little muscle in there kind of failed.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin and the club’s training staff rushed onto the field, and after helping Canha up and checking on him, the center fielder slowly walked back to the A’s dugout as he was pulled from the game.

“It’s a left groin strain and typically those aren’t great, but he’s a pretty tough guy,” Melvin said. “We’ll see how he is in Seattle.”

Canha said he began to feel discomfort in his groin after running from first to third base on a single by Jurickson Profar in the sixth inning. He doesn’t foresee the injury as a potential season-ender and remained optimistic after undergoing tests on the groin with the training staff. With the A’s set to begin a four-game series with the Mariners on Thursday, he is hopeful for a return in the next couple of days.

“It was like once I got to third base, I felt it kind of angry. It felt kind of crampy, like it was getting overstretched,” Canha said. “If not tomorrow, at least the next day. As long as I can go out there and it’s not super painful to run, I’m going to be out there. I’m going to force them, write my own name in the lineup. But I have to be able to help the team.”

Franklin Barreto entered the game for Canha and was moved to second base, with Pinder taking over in center. Canha has put together a career-best campaign, entering Wednesday's game slashing .277/.398/.526 with a career-high 26 home runs and 58 RBIs over 123 games.