BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Oakland A’s Will Open in Las Vegas

Two days after announcing that the Oakland Coliseum would not be ready to host their April 1 opening game, the Athletics said Wednesday they have chosen Cashman Field, a 9,334-seat minor-league park in Las Vegas, as their home away from home.

Oakland will open the season there against Toronto and play the Blue Jays there on April 3. The Detroit Tigers will visit Cashman Field for four games against the A’s on April 4-7.

It will be the first major league game at a minor league park since Sept. 3, 1957, when the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 3-2, in 12 innings at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, N.J.

Manuel Cortez, president of the Las Vegas Convention Center and Visitors Authority, said the A’s were guaranteed $900,000 to choose Las Vegas over New Orleans.

The Detroit series will conflict with one between Las Vegas and Vancouver of the Pacific Coast League, and those holding ticketes to the minor league games will be admitted to see the A’s and Tigers.

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Randy Donisthorpe, a minor league pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, died in his sleep at the team’s spring training hotel at Plant City, Fla., after an apparent seizure.

Donisthorpe, 23, of Fayette, Iowa, graduated from Gahr High in Cerritos in 1991, from Cerritos Junior College in 1993, and attended Upper Iowa University.

He was 0-2 with a 9.69 ERA in 10 relief appearances covering 13 innings with Winnipeg last year. He attended a Reds’ tryout camp in January and signed a minor league contract.

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San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds probably will be sidelined until early next week because of a bruised left wrist and may sit out the rest of spring training.