After almost two months recovering from a hamstring issue, Chris Heisey has been activated and is back in the lineup as the designated hitter against the Oakland A’s tonight.

Heisey had been playing games with the AAA Louisville Bats for the last week, going 4 for 20.

“I felt really good at the plate,” he said. “I didn’t have the results to show for it, but I hit some balls hard. I saw a lot of pitches. I worked a lot of deep counts, which is something I want to get better at up here. It was a good little practice for me.”

Donald Lutz was sent down to AA to make room for Heisey’s return.

Heisey will be back, but the Reds will be without star second baseman Brandon Phillips, who was placed on the paternity list. I didn’t know that was a thing, but it’s apparently been there since 2011, added at the same time as the concussion list.

Players can miss one to three games, and Phillips is expected to miss the two-game series against the A’s. Infielder Henry Rodriguez was called up from Louisville to take his place.

Yesterday, the Cincinnati Reds didn’t play baseball. At least, I assume they didn’t. With them being on their first west coast trip of the season, the games start so late that I could easily miss them.

The Reds have been struggling lately, which is never how you want to see them when they’re heading out west. My, there’ve been some seasons lost out west. That won’t happen this year; this team is too good. But after losing 2 of 3 in their first road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, one has to hope the day off will help erase the jet lag that often accompanies the games in time zones other than central or eastern.

The Reds will have a short, two-game series against the Oakland A’s this evening. Bronson Arroyo will start and try to right the Reds’ ship. The A’s have been a good team this year, although they’ve been losing a lot lately. Hopefully, the Reds bats will be rested enough to score so many runs so that no bullpen mishaps can doom them. Or, hell, let’s go crazy with hope and think the bullpen is well-rested enough to put its crappy outings behind it for a week or two.

We won’t know until 10:05 pm tonight. Until then, see how well you know Corky Miller with the Cincinnati Enquirer’s quiz.