A's rained out at home for first time in 3 years

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The Houston Astros and Athletics have been postponed because of rain, Oakland's first home rainout since April 2014.

The game will be made up on Sept. 9 as part of a doubleheader.

Rain began early in the morning and was expected to continue throughout Sunday. The postponement was announced two hours before the scheduled first pitch.

''You always try to avoid the rainouts, yet looking at the forecast it looked like it was the right thing to do,'' A's manager Bob Melvin said. ''I'm shocked. Since I've been here it's probably only rained a little bit during a game one time. I haven't seen (the tarp) rolled out too many times.''

Oakland was rained out at home on April 1, 2014, and a game was postponed three days later when the grounds crew failed to put out the tarp and rain muddied the infield.

Jharel Cotton, who was scheduled to pitch for the A's, will instead pitch the series opener against Texas on Monday. The rest of the rotation will remain on schedule as well.

''With the workload that our guys have had we'll just stay on turn with everybody,'' Melvin said. ''It certainly gives our bullpen a little bit of a break. The last couple of days it's been taxed pretty good.''

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said right-hander Charlie Morton will pitch Monday's series opener at home against the Los Angeles Angels. Morton had been slated to pitch Sunday.

After the postponement was announced, players from both teams remained on the field and were playing catch and running in the outfield.

Oakland also placed shortstop Marcus Semien on the 10-day disabled list with a bruised right wrist.

Semien has been bothered by soreness in his wrist since spring training and underwent an MRI scan Saturday. He's scheduled to have a CT scan on Monday to determine if there's any further damage.

The move is retroactive to April 15. It's Semien's first stint on the DL in his career.

Infielder Chad Pinder was called up from Triple-A Nashville to take Semien's place and will be the A's primary backup at shortstop and second base. Adam Rosales is expected to get the bulk of playing time at shortstop until Semien returns.