Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Scott Kazmir exited Wednesday afternoon's contest against the Detroit Tigers with what the Athletics called "left shoulder tightness." He had made 47 pitches over three innings. Dan Otero replaced Kazmir to pitch in the top of the fourth inning.

Kazmir was just pointing to his shoulder on the broadcast. Welp. #Athletics — Keith Barnard (@Keith2TheCity) May 27, 2015

Scott Kazmir is receiving an MRI on his left shoulder, and manager Bob Melvin said he was not sure if this would result in a trip to the disabled list, tweets the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser. The A's will probably know more Thursday.

Possible decisions

On normal rest, Kazmir would be on turn to pitch Monday, but that is an off day for the Athletics. The A's could skip Kazmir's turn if the shoulder tightness is a minor issue or the team needs more time to evaluate it.

If the A's want to call up another pitcher, Sean Nolin continues to pitch well as he gets stretched out in Triple-A. After four innings and 60 pitches of scoreless work on May 25, Nolin has given up just one earned run in 12⅔ innings with the Nashville Sounds. If the A's know Kazmir will need a disabled list stay, the A's could still skip Kazmir's turn and allow Nolin one more Triple-A start to take advantage of the off day. They could call up an eighth reliever, such as Angel Castro, until Nolin's turn.

The other option on the 40-man roster is Chris Bassitt, who has a 4.45 ERA in Triple-A Nashville over 28⅓ innings. Bassitt was up as a long reliever in Oakland earlier this season, making five appearances for a 3.38 ERA over 10⅔ innings.