Josh Reddick has slumped of late, hitting .134 in his last 15 games, and the A’s outfielder missed yesterday’s game after having a tooth extracted earlier this week.
Vinnie Duber of MLB.com notes that Reddick “has been dealing with the oral issue all season, which has forced him to wear a mouthguard.” And finally this week it became too much, as Reddick explained:
I had to go get it checked out because the pain was pretty bad. The dentist said it wasn’t healing right and the blood wasn’t forming like it should be. We had to go in there and re-clean it out, and I had to numb it up again and put another temporary thing in there that’s going to eventually dissolve, and hopefully keep the pain away.
Duber reports that Reddick used Monday’s off day to fly to his home in Georgia so he could be examined by his own dentist. And despite how unpleasant that all sounds, he’s expected to be back in the lineup tonight.
