A's DH Piazza to miss 4-6 weeks with shoulder injury

BOSTON -- Oakland designated hitter Mike Piazza is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks with a strained right shoulder injured Wednesday night when he dove into third base in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid being tagged.

With two outs in the sixth and runners at first and second, Bobby Crosby hit a grounder to Boston third baseman Mike Lowell. Piazza and Lowell both hustled for the bag and collided near it. Piazza was tagged out and stayed on the ground in pain for a short time.

"It's frustrating," said Piazza, his arm in a sling. "I felt like I was starting to swing the bat a little better and it's a tough setback. It's really frustrating."

Piazza, who signed as a free agent after spending the previous 14 seasons in the National League, is batting .282 after going 2-for-3 in the Athletics' 6-4 loss to the Red Sox. He hit safely in his last six games but is just 14-for-59 in his last 15.

The injury delays Piazza's adjustment to a new league and its pitchers. Oakland's cleanup hitter has one homer this season and is 39th in major league history with 421.

"I just wanted to get my at bats in now and just keep seeing pitching," he said.

Assistant general manager David Forst said he hadn't had time to think how the team would replace Piazza.

"In the next 36 hours, we'll figure something out," he said. "Tonight was something you can't avoid. It's not a muscle pull. Mike's playing the game hard and so is Lowell. It's unfortunate. Mike is starting to swing the bat well."

Oakland was leading 3-2 when Crosby grounded to Lowell. Piazza thought Lowell would throw to first and that was Lowell's initial intention, but he saw his best chance was to race Piazza to third.

Piazza said he saw "a little sliver of daylight" and dove headfirst rather than slide feet first. He first thought he had separated his shoulder, but the injury later was diagnosed as a strained AC joint.

"He just kind of landed on my arm," Piazza said. "It's just a freak thing, just a freak play, and he was obviously concerned."

Lowell lingered briefly at the base.

"When I said, `are you all right?' he said, `It's my arm, my arm," said Lowell, who called the Oakland clubhouse to see if Piazza was OK. "You hate to hear he's going to be out."

Piazza will join six other players on the disabled list, including four outfielders.

"It's just sort of a freaky thing," he said, "but we were keeping our heads above water and that's the thing that really hurts. I felt like I took a couple of good swings tonight."

Oakland fell to 13-14 after splitting the two-game series, 2½ games behind Los Angeles in the AL West.