Luzardo back, 'ready to go' out of 'pen

Jesús Luzardo was activated on Sunday after being sidelined for four weeks with a and is “ready to go,” set to start out in the bullpen.

"Whatever the team needs, I’m here,” Luzardo said. “They tell me when to pitch and I’ll pitch. I don’t care if it’s starting, if it’s relieving, it doesn’t really matter to me. As long as I can help the team win some type of way, I’m here to do it.”

To make room for Luzardo, right-hander Jordan Weems was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Luzardo has yet to fully build back up to a starter’s workload since his injury, throwing just 25 pitches in his lone rehab start. Luzardo said he had a week off after the injury, then took a week and a half to begin building his arm back up. Luzardo got his feet wet in his rehab start, with all his pitches having the “action” he desired.

The left-hander's last start for the A's came on May 1, hours after hitting his hand on a table while playing video games at his home prior to arriving at the ballpark. Trainers cleared Luzardo to pitch later that day, but X-rays after the game revealed a hairline fracture in his left pinkie and Luzardo was subsequently placed on the injured list.

The length of Luzardo's stint in the bullpen remains to be seen. Manager Bob Melvin said on Saturday that the team will “play it by ear,” but for the time being, Luzardo is a reliever and will be used as such.

“That’s what he is right now,” Melvin said. “We always have the potential to stretch him out. We’ll see how performance goes within the rotation, and if we need to stretch him out, to try to get him back into it. All those things are kind of unknowns at this point.”

The A's certainly stand to benefit from having Luzardo in the bullpen. Since May 15, Oakland’s bullpen has had a 6.00 ERA across 39 innings. Luzardo’s presence could help alleviate the workloads of Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino and Jake Diekman, all of whom are among the league leaders in appearances.

Luzardo has some familiarity with coming out of the bullpen since debuting with Oakland. In nine career regular-season appearances as a reliever, Luzardo owns a 3.32 ERA and 3.07 FIP. In the 2019 American League Wild Card Game, Luzardo dazzled with four strikeouts across three scoreless innings, a performance that felt like the youngster’s coming out party.

In Luzardo’s absence, rookie James Kaprielian has been exceptional, owning a 1.53 ERA across his first three Major League starts. Kaprielian’s emergence, combined with the steady production of lefty Cole Irvin, will provide the A’s with options regarding how they want to use Luzardo going forward.

“Me personally, I love starting," said Luzardo. "That’s something that I’ll always love to do, but it’s not in my hands, really. So, whether it’s an inning, whether it’s two or three, or whatever they choose to do with me. I’ll just go out there and do it until [Melvin] tells me that’s enough.

“At the end of the day, my heart is on being a starter. But, like I said, whatever I can do to help the team win, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Luzardo was placed on the injured list May 2 with a fractured left hand. He had a one-game rehab assignment with Triple-A Las Vegas and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings on 25 pitches in a start on Thursday at Sacramento, allowing one hit and struck out one. Luzardo began the season in the A’s starting rotation and was 1-3 with a 5.79 ERA and .289 opponents' batting average in six starts at the time he went on the IL. Luzardo is 4-5 with a 4.54 ERA in 15 career starts with the A’s and has two saves and a 3.32 ERA in nine relief appearances.

Weems joined the A’s for the third time this year on Friday but did not pitch. He has a 6.23 ERA and a .133 opponents' batting average in five relief appearances with Oakland and a 4.91 ERA in four relief appearances with Las Vegas.