Left-hander Greg Smith will make his Major League debut on Wednesday night when the Athletics visit the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Smith is taking over for injured starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with a strained right biceps.

Although an official roster move still needs to be made to make room for Smith on the 40-man roster, Oakland manager Bob Geren confirmed the move after the Athletics' 9-8 victory over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

"Greg Smith will start tomorrow," Geren said. "He's here, he just arrived and he's ready to go."

Smith was one of six players acquired from the D-backs in the offseason trade of former No. 1 starting pitcher Dan Haren. Last season, Smith combined to go 9-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 22 games with Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Tucson in Arizona's organization.

The 24-year-old ranked sixth in Arizona's Minor League system in ERA and held left-handed batters to a .215 batting average. Toronto's lineup is predominantly right-handed, though, and that's where Smith struggled last season. He allowed a .297 batting mark and nine of his 11 home runs surrendered came against righties.

Smith will be opposed by Toronto's Dustin McGowan. The hard-throwing right-hander turned in a strong performance in his last outing, his first of the season, against the Yankees. Battling remnants of the flu, the 26-year-old allowed just two runs on four hits over six innings en route to a no-decision.

Pitching matchup
OAK: LHP Greg Smith (0-0, -.-- ERA)
Smith was selected by the D-backs in the sixth round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft and was part of the Dan Haren deal.

TOR: RHP Dustin McGowan (0-0, 3.00 ERA)
McGowan is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in five career outings against the Athletics.

Tidbits
Oakland second baseman Mark Ellis has enjoyed some success against McGowan in his career. Ellis is hitting .375 (3-for-8) with a walk against Toronto's young hurler. ... Catcher Kurt Suzuki is the only Athletics player to hit safely in all eight games this season. Suzuki went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored in Tuesday's victory over Toronto and is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak dating back to next season. ... Injured infielder Donnie Murphy swung a bat on Tuesday for the first time since spraining a finger on his right hand during a collision with outfielder Jack Cust over the weekend. Murphy said he was feeling much better but will wait and see how the hand feels tomorrow before announcing whether or not he would be ready to see game action again. He considers himself day-to-day. ... The A's had their streak of four straight games without committing an error snapped against Toronto.

Tickets
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On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
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On radio
• KFRC 106.9

Up next
• Thursday: Athletics (Dana Eveland, 1-0, 1.29) at Blue Jays (Shaun Marcum, 1-0, 3.86), 4:07 p.m. PT
• Friday: Athletics (Joe Blanton, 0-2, 3.44) at Indians (C.C. Sabathia, 0-1, 7.59), 4:05 p.m. PT
• Saturday: Athletics (Rich Harden, 1-0, 0.82) at Indians (Fausto Carmona, 1-0, 0.69), 4:05 p.m. PT