Less shy, more aggressive.

That’s the plate approach the A’s are trying to preach to a normally patient Daric Barton, and it appears the work with hitting coach Chili Davis is paying off. Barton entered Saturday batting .559 (5-for-9) with two doubles when swinging at the first pitch, compared to a 3-for-38 showing with a count featuring at least two strikes.

“That’s what Chili is all about,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You go up there aggressive, get ahead in the count, get a pitch to drive, they don’t give it to you, you move on. But you don’t go up looking for a walk. If the first pitch is there, and it’s a first-pitch fastball and you can do something with it, have at it. We want them to be aggressive, everybody.”

Barton has five hits in his past 13 at-bats, hitting safely in each of the last four games after going 1-for-20 over his previous six contests. Perhaps not coincidentally, he’s hit his stride just as he’s begun gaining back his everyday role at first base, in part to a hamstring injury that forced Kila Ka’aihue to rest for a few days.

“This is probably the most comfortable I’ve seen him here, both defensively and offensively,” Melvin said. “I think we’re starting to make some strides with him. He’s looking more confident.

“The way he’s always been is a guy that works the count, who is a little less apt to swing early in the count. Now I think you’re starting to see some first-pitch swings. Teams know what he’s doing. If you’re continually taking strike one and getting behind, that makes the road a little tougher, as far as the at-bat. If he shows them he can swing early in the count, maybe that makes them pitch him a little bit differently.”

Count three men down for the A’s.

Brandon Inge became the latest member of the club to hit the 15-day disabled list, joining fellow regulars Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes on the sidelines with a strained right groin.

The move, which led to the promotion of infielder Adam Rosales, is retroactive to Sunday, meaning Inge is eligible to rejoin the team May 28 in Oakland, two days before Manny Ramirez’s scheduled arrival. Crisp (inner ear infection) and Cespedes (left hand) are also expected back by then, with Inge saying, “It’s just a little calm before the storm maybe.”

“That would be the glass-half full version of it,” manager Bob Melvin said. “This is the time for the role players to do their thing, hold down the fort, and we do have some impact bats coming back soon.”

This marks the second big-league stint of the season for Rosales, though his first only included one appearance as a defensive replacement in Tokyo. He was batting .277 with two home runs and 19 RBIs in 36 games with the River Cats and, after catching a red-eye flight Wednesday night, was immediately inserted into the starting lineup at first base Thursday in Texas.

Melvin said Rosales, who appeared in 32 games at shortstop and four at second base for Sacramento, could also see time at third base, with most of his starts to come against left-handers.

“When you get a call to the Major Leagues, you’ll play anywhere, anytime,” Rosales said. “I’m just glad to be here. I played a lot of shortstop, played third a couple of times. I’ve been bouncing around everywhere, and I’m sure that’s what my role is here.”

“He’s a good defender, wherever he goes,” Melvin said.

Inge’s absence from the lineup follows an eye-popping week in which the veteran tallied four four-RBI games with four home runs — two of them grand slams — in a five-day span. He admitted Thursday morning that going on the DL was the best decision not just for his health but for the team.

“I feel like I never really gave it a chance to rest,” he said. “The only reason I think it wasn’t getting better was because I pushed it, testing it every day and never giving it the chance to heal. It’s not bad, but it’s bad enough to where I couldn’t play on it, so I think if I just let it heal, then I can strengthen it, no problem.

“I feel bad anytime I go on the DL. I can’t stand letting the team down, but at the same time there’s nothing you can do about it. And I’d probably be hurting the team if I tried to go out and play the way I am.”

The A’s officially swapped a righty reliever for a lefty one on Wednesday, bringing in Travis Blackley and optioning Andrew Carignan to Triple-A Sacramento.

Blackley, whom the A’s claimed off waivers from the Giants on Tuesday, gives the A’s five southpaws in their bullpen. Though a rarity to have so many lefties in stock, this is nothing new for Oakland, who at one point last season also employed five.

“At some point in time you just use your best pitchers that you feel you have at the time,” manager Bob Melvin said. “There’s always going to be some trial and error, and that’s just where we are right now.”

Blackley, who has made more starts (8) than relief appearances (4) in the big leagues, represents a true length option, as Melvin also noted.

“Length is length, and I think Travis gives us, at this point, the most length, coming from a natural starter who can give you more than two innings,” he said of the Aussie. “This is a guy who could really give you four or five innings if you need it.”

Carignan was just five days into his second stint with the A’s this season before being demoted. The right-hander appeared in two games over that span, allowing two runs on two hits with three walks in two innings.

The A’s, who have kept mum on Manny Ramirez for the most part until now, just put out a release confirming he will begin a 10-day stint with Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday. For fans interested in seeing him play in Sacramento, the River Cats will be back home May 25.

In the release:

“In advance of being activated from his 50-game suspension, designated hitter/outfielder Manny Ramirez will play 10 minor league games with Triple-A Sacramento, joining the RiverCats in Albuquerque, N.M. this Saturday, May 19. … Barring any rainouts, Ramirez is scheduled to play his first game with the A’s May 30 in Minnesota.”

So it appears the A’s won’t waste any time in bringing him aboard, which should make for an interesting roster decision, considering they already have veteran DH options in Seth Smith and Jonny Gomes. May 30 marks Ramirez’s 40th birthday.

A’s right-hander Brandon McCarthy came out of his Thursday bullpen session pain-free, putting him in the clear for his scheduled Saturday start against the Tigers.

Concern surfaced Tuesday, when McCarthy was scratched from his start because of soreness in his throwing shoulder, which has landed the pitcher on the disabled list in four of the past five seasons. And while Saturday’s outing will truly dictate where he stands, McCarthy called Thursday’s session “a little bit of a relief, considering how the week started.”

“I didn’t feel anything today,” he said. “I felt fine, and it’s really not a concern at this point. I wasn’t mentally hung up, wasn’t worried about it. I pretty much knew what to expect, and unless something unexpected happened, I wasn’t going to be surprised. It went the way I wanted it to, and it just leaves me perfectly on course for Saturday.

“I know these next couple of starts will be big for me, to see where it’s at and if it is coming on. But the way it feels right now, there’s nothing that should stop me.”

The A’s hope not. McCarthy, pitching from the No. 1 spot, has been extremely consistent this year, allowing no more than two earned runs in six of his seven starts. He’s pitched into the seventh inning in five of them, all the while compiling an overall ERA of 2.96.

McCarthy will be pitching on nine days’ rest come Saturday, and when asked if he believed if the extra time off might affect him, he replied, “Postgame Saturday, we’ll find out.”

McCarthy also reiterated that the pain he experienced after his last start in Boston “wasn’t even pain.”

“You know when you get a tickle in your throat before you’re sick and you’re trying to convince yourself you’re not sick and two hours later you’re sick?” he said. “It’s like that, where it’s not the actual sickness. You just feel something that feels different, and every time I’ve felt that, it’s gone into that. But I’ve never been proactive with it before, so it might be possible to get around it this time.

“Everything I do is based around staying healthy, staying strong. There’s not much more I can do.”

—————————————

An update on Yoenis Cespedes:

Cespedes said Thursday afternoon his left hand felt “better than yesterday,” and it appears the outfielder could potentially return to the lineup as soon as Friday.

Cespedes, who on Wednesday was diagnosed with a muscle strain in the back of his hand, hit off the tee and took part in a round of soft toss Thursday, but the real test was to come following batting practice, when he was scheduled to see live action in the inside cages.

How he fares swinging the bat in there should help determine his closeness to game action. Either way, Melvin said he wouldn’t be afraid to use Cespedes as a pinch-hitter Thursday but would prefer to avoid utilizing him defensively.

The A’s breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday afternoon, after hearing there is no break to Yoenis Cespedes’ left hand.

An X-ray showed that the rookie outfielder suffered a strained muscle to the back of his hand, ruling out the possibility of an extended absence and instead leading the A’s to list him as day-to-day.

“No breaks — good news,” manager Bob Melvin said.

Added Cespedes: “I’m happy because it’s good news.”

Cespedes will attempt to swing a bat on Thursday. Melvin is not ruling him out of the team’s series opener against the Tigers, saying if he’s not in the lineup Thursday, “maybe the next day.”

Cespedes said the injury surfaced last week while the team was in Boston but, at the time, proved wasn’t of much concern. It was on Tuesday, before he was a late scratch from the A’s lineup, when the soreness peaked during batting practice.

New teammate Brandon Inge called Wednesday’s news “peace of mind for the entire team.”

“You don’t want to lose a bat like that in the lineup,” he said of Cespedes, who has five home runs and 21 RBIs.

The uncertainty surrounding Yoenis Cespedes’ injury carried into Wednesday morning, as the outfielder was scheduled to undergo an X-ray on his left hand shortly before the A’s afternoon matinee with the Blue Jays.

More details are expected after the game.

Cespedes was a late scratch from the A’s lineup on Tuesday because of soreness in the back of his hand, an issue that manager Bob Melvin said was a “minor” one before then. He only took a handful of swings during batting practice before departing the field early.

“I think it popped up a little differently yesterday,” Melvin said. “It’s not something he reported to the training room for. I think, over the course of the season, you have some aches and pains that you deal with, and then you go to the training room, and yesterday was that point.

“I think he just took a swing yesterday and took it to a different level. For me, it happened yesterday, in the fashion that all of a sudden he couldn’t play.”

With Cespedes, who has five home runs and 21 RBIs, tops among all Major League rookies, out of the mix, Josh Reddick made his second straight start in center field Wednesday, with Seth Smith playing right field and Jonny Gomes in left and batting cleanup.

Should Cespedes be out for an extended period of time, the A’s are likely to stick with Reddick in center field. He appeared in eight games at the position in Boston last year and in 237 in the Minors, most among any position.

Shoulder issues, which have plagued much of Brandon McCarthy’s career, kept the right-hander from making his scheduled start against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, as the A’s pushed his turn back to Saturday.

But even that’s not a guarantee. McCarthy will have to exit his bullpen session Thursday without “anything that gives me caution or pause,” he said, in order to be cleared for the outing against Detroit. However, he already underwent an MRI that came back clean.

McCarthy insists the soreness in his right shoulder isn’t serious, particularly compared to what he’s experienced in the past and, most recently, last year, when he missed six weeks because of a stress reaction in his right scapula. The same injury has surfaced in four of his past five seasons, and McCarthy believes he’s taking extra precautionary steps this time.

“I’m trying to find it earlier and earlier,” he said. “The way some people can tell it’s going to rain, I guess I could kind of see this coming, so I was trying to stay out in front of it. A few days off is probably the best way to go about it.

“This becomes unchartered territory, because I’ve never been this far in front of it. Usually I’ve kind of run up to the wall, and last year I shut it down earlier than I had in past years. This year, I’m trying to deal with it before it’s even an issue. Finding the right way to get around it hasn’t been figured out yet, but hopefully we’re doing that.”

The injury-prone McCarthy, who has endured six career disabled list stints, first noticed something was off the day after his 113-pitch outing in Boston, where he gave up just one run in 6 2/3 innings. Over his last three starts, he’s 2-1 with a 2.18 ERA.

He came out of his Sunday bullpen session feeling fine and is scheduled to play catch on Wednesday, before throwing long toss and undergoing another bullpen Thursday. He admitted a DL stint would be likely if he’s unable to go Saturday, particularly since the A’s would need a spot starter and could backdate the transaction to May 2, but he didn’t seem at all interested in deeming such a scenario probable.

“When I say it’s not even on the same universe [as last year's injury], it really isn’t,” he said. “Last year it was mandatory. I could barely breathe without wincing. This is nothing. It’s a step above a premonition that something doesn’t feel quite right.”

Jarrod Parker, initially scheduled to pitch Wednesday, started Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays, with Tyson Ross now set to go Wednesday and Bartolo Colon and Tommy Milone to follow.

It appears Brandon Inge may be the piece missing from the A’s puzzle.

Only time will tell if he’s the perfect fit, but both parties seem to think so.

Inge, whose one-year deal with Oakland was made official Monday, was immediately inserted into the lineup for the club’s three-game series opener in Boston, batting eighth and playing third base, where he’s expected to remain until further notice.

“We’ve had some difficulties defensively at times this year at the position,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Unfortunately, it’s been a little bit of a revolving door, which we certainly don’t want to have, but we’re in the situation we’re in, and we feel good about getting him in there.

“We finally feel like we have a third baseman we can plug in there every day.”

Inge is anxious for the opportunity, one he wasn’t getting from the Tigers, who ended a 12-year relationship with the veteran when they released him last week. Inge insists “there are no hard feelings” for the Detroit organization. In fact, he had prepared for the parting of ways, noting he was close to approaching them about the chance to find a new team “that will better suit me.”

Inge has fond memories of the one he landed with, not only because of his success against them during the 2006 American League Championship Series won by Detroit, but from his childhood days, which included a trip to Kansas City to see a matchup between the Royals and A’s.

“That day, I remember [Mark] McGwire taking batting practice, Rickey [Henderson] there,” Inge said. “I was a huge fan of this team, so it’s fun I get to be a part of an organization that has such a rich history.”

Inge happens to be quite familiar with Melvin, whom he worked with as a catcher when Melvin served as Detroit’s bench coach during the 2000 season. Inge calls the skipper “one of the most nice guys I’ve come across,” while Melvin thinks just as highly of his new player he deems “a bulldog” and “just a terrific athlete.”

“He’s been playing this game a long time, and what I know just from playing against him, is the fact you know what kind of defense he brings to the table,” Cliff Pennington said. “The veteran presence is huge. We always need that around here. I think he’s the kind of guy we’re going to like, and the kind of guy who’s going to be a really good fit for this clubhouse.”

Inge, it seems, is adjusting just fine.

“I’m excited, I am,” he said. “It’s a little different. I’m not going to lie, a little different looking at these white shoes here. I bet everyone says that when they come over here, don’t they? I don’t mind, I kind of like it.”

Less than one year after snagging Scott Sizemore in a trade with the Tigers, the A’s are nearing a deal that will bring in another Detroit third baseman, as they’ve agreed to sign veteran Brandon Inge.

The deal, confirmed on Sunday by MLB.com, is pending a physical, but Inge is expected to be in Boston on Monday for the club’s three-game series opener against the Red Sox. Once in uniform, it’s safe to assume his place in the everyday third-base role, following an early round of musical chairs at the position that saw a lack of production from Josh Donaldson, Eric Sogard and the recently acquired Luke Hughes. Combined, A’s third basemen had a .127 average with a .374 OPS, two home runs and six RBIs entering the day.

Inge, who will be 35 next month, has endured his own struggles in April, compiling just two hits in 20 at-bats spanning nine games with Detroit, leading to his release from the only organization he’s known Thursday. But he’s considered an excellent defender, and his past production at the plate, though not overwhelming, still represents an upgrade for Oakland’s sluggish offense.

The Tigers are on the hook for his $5.5 million salary, while the A’s will only be responsible for the pro-rated Major League minimum.

His best year came during Detroit’s 2006 American League championship season, when he hit .253 with 27 home runs and 83 RBIs in 159 games. He was also an All-Star in 2009, when he tallied 29 homers in the first half. Since, he’s hit just 23 total and, overall, owns a .234 career average and .691 OPS.

“It’ll be good to get a fresh start with another team,” Inge said last week. “I don’t have any doubts. I’m a team player. I’m not selfish. I’m not going to talk bad about anyone. I’m going to go out and do my job.”

The infielder won a part-time job at second base in Spring Training but began the season on the disabled list with a strained left groin. He made his debut April 14 and saw most of his starts at second base against left-handed starters, striking out six times without a walk.

Inge represents the 12th third baseman Oakland has employed since Eric Chavez played his last game there for the A’s in 2009. Aside from Sizemore, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on the first day of spring workouts, and Donaldson, Sogard and Hughes, the others who have endured stints at the hot corner are Conor Jackson, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Andy LaRoche, Adam Rosales, Aki Iwamura, Jack Hannahan and Adam Kennedy.

When Inge is officially placed on the active roster, the A’s could choose to designate Hughes for assignment and keep Sogard on board in a utility role. Hughes is 1-for-13 since arriving in Oakland last week