Oakland Athletics

The Athletics activated infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima (hamstring) from the 15-day disabled list Thursday and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento, where he was on a rehab assignment. Nakajima is batting .265 (13 for 49) with four doubles and five RBI in 13 games for Sacramento.

Athletics catcher Derek Norris had his first multi-hit game in May Wednesday against the Rangers, clubbing two doubles in 3-1 loss. Norris is up to eight doubles.

Coming into Wednesday's game, Norris was batting .135 (7 for 52) with one home run, two doubles, four RBI, five runs and seven walks in 16 May games.

Athletics starting pitcher Jarrod Parker allowed a pair of first-inning home runs to David Murphy and Adrian Beltre, and it was enough to doom him in a 3-1 loss to Texas Wednesday. Parker tossed six scoreless innings after allowing three runs in the first inning.

The right-hander was charged with six hits and one walk, while strking out five. He actually lowered his ERA from 6.04 to 5.76. Parker has allowed three or more runs in five of his last six starts.

Parker (2-6) is slated to return to action Tuesday against the Giants. Parker is 0-1 with a 7.88 ERA in two career starts against San Francisco.

Athletics outfielder Josh Reddick (wrist) remains on track to take batting practice Friday in Houston. He will do so again Saturday, and if all goes well, then the team will decide where to send him for a rehab assignment, according to MLB.com.

Reddick could be reinstated from the disabled list next week. Reddick, who was hitting .152 before going on the disabled list, believes his hitting woes could be strongly connected to his wrist discomfort.

Read some of the reactions to Dan Straily's gem Tuesday at Texas, and you'll have a pretty good idea how much his Athletics coaches and teammates believe in his potential.

"The best pitching performance we've seen out of him to date," manager Bob Melvin said. "I think he just gained confidence as the game went along."

"I think this can be a jumping off point for him," reliever Sean Doolittle said. "That was pretty impressive."

It's not like Straily was doubting himself after a series of rocky starts since returning from the minors. He only backs up what the numbers say. "The last few times out, I walked people, hit people, hurt myself. I wasn't getting hit hard. I was hurting myself. The whole goal today was go out and fill up the strike zone."

Like I said on Wednesday's Fantasy Baseball Today, this is the real Dan Straily. He isn't the first high-upside hurler to have a rocky transition to the majors. He also wouldn't be the first to take off once he found his groove. With Brett Anderson potentially out another two months, I'm willing to ride the wave.