Seeking relief, Oakland Athletics to start Liam Hendriks in A.L. wild-card game

NEW YORK – Reliever Liam Hendriks will start for the Oakland Athletics in Wednesday night’s A.L. wild-card game against the New York Yankees.

Hendriks was designated for assignment in June and cleared waivers, but now he’ll open the biggest game of Oakland’s season. He will be only the fourth pitcher to start a postseason game after a regular season of no wins, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

A 29-year-old right-hander, Hendriks was 0-1 with a 4.13 ERA in 25 appearances this year, including 0-1 and a 2.08 ERA in eight September starts of 1 2/3 innings or less. He pitched seven shutout innings in his last seven starts, allowing four hits.

Virgil Trucks started twice for Detroit in the 1945 World Series after returning from World War II and making one regular-season appearance. The others to start in the postseason after no regular-season wins were Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo in 2008 when he returned from a torn knee ligament, and St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter in 2012 when he came back from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.

Following injuries to Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton and several others, Oakland manager Bob Melvin used 15 starters.