Athletics' Kendall Graveman: Effective in return from DL

Graveman (2-1) made an effective return from his shoulder injury in Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Angels, giving up two earned runs on six hits over six innings. He struck out four.

Analysis:

The right-hander didn't miss a beat in his return to the mound, throwing 58 of 84 pitches for strikes and notching first-pitch strikes against 16 of the 22 hitters he faced. Graveman even helped his cause with a nifty unassisted double play, getting Jefry Marte in a rundown between third base and home and then leaping over him to also cut down the sliding Cliff Pennington at third with a tag. It was another encouraging start for Graveman, who's given up no more than two earned runs in any of his four trips to the mound and has gone at least six innings in three of those outings. He'll look to extend the strong start to the season in a road matchup against the Twins next Tuesday.