SHANNON DRAYER

Return better late than never for Mariners reliever Tony Zych

Aug 23, 2016, 5:28 PM | Updated: 5:39 pm

Tony Zych is back with the Mariners after three months out for an injury originally thought to be l...

Tony Zych is back with the Mariners after three months out for an injury originally thought to be less serious. (AP)

(AP)

As expected, the Mariners made a move with their bullpen Tuesday, activating Tony Zych from the 60-day DL and optioning Stefen Romero back to Tacoma. The move gets the Mariners back to a seven-man bullpen, although it leaves them without a platoon partner for Adam Lind at first base.

“We needed to get back to our full bullpen,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said, admitting that he didn’t necessarily see this move for Romero when he was called up late last week. “This was kind of the next in line.”

Next in line and by all accounts very much ready to go. Zych, who has been out since May 3 with right shoulder tendinitis, has pitched a number of rehab outings and is back to his pre-injury velocity.

“Tony’s been throwing the ball really well. We will get him in there, he most likely will throw tonight,” Servais said.

For Zych, this day has come much later than he ever thought it would. When he was first placed on the DL the thought was that he would be shut down for a couple of weeks and then resume his throwing program. There were stops and starts throughout the process, however, and eventually a complete start over.

“I realized it wasn’t going as we planned and we had to make an adjustment,” Zych said. “I had to realize and step back and try not to rush back as fast. That was the hardest part I think, just backing off and not pushing it too hard. Honestly it’s probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in this game was not be here, not be with the team, figure out how to stay positive through the negative in myself and what was going on in my shoulder. It was really tough.”

After a strong September in 2015, Zych was all but penciled in this spring to be an important part of the Mariners bullpen this season. There is still time to make an impact.

“It was obviously a learning process for me, but it’s good,” he said. “I weathered through it. It’s better now, I’m ready to go.”

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