Mariners notebook: Kyle Seager not expected to be out long
Aug 24, 2016, 4:22 PM | Updated: 5:18 pm
Kyle Seager was out of the Mariners’ lineup Wednesday afternoon after informing his manager that morning that he could barely put weight on his foot due to fouling a ball off of it Tuesday night. Initial x-rays were negative and the mood around Seager seemed to be light.
“It’s kind of ironic,” manager Scott Servais said. “On the last road trip, Seth Smith had fouled a ball off his foot, Seager was the one giving him the hardest time because he had to pull out of the lineup that day. So be careful, the baseball gods will sometimes get you.”
Seager wasn’t the only one who got on Smith in the game against Oakland. If you were watching you may recall Smith fouling the ball off his foot and then going down in Game 2. The cameras panned to the dugout and showed Servais and bench coach Tim Bogar laughing. I later found out it wasn’t because Smith went down, but because of what dugout motormouth Leonys Martin was yelling at the time.
The baseball gods may have taken their swipe at Seager, but a couple of teammates got in on it as well. They gave Seager the same red, no-tackle football jersey they had made for Smith (who was Eli Manning’s backup quarterback in college), and Mike Zunino wheeled him around the clubhouse in a wheelchair before the game.
Servais said that Seager would be further evaluated but the belief was that he would not miss much time.
“He’s pretty sore,” he said. “The quick turnaround, day game after night game did not help. Hopefully he will be okay when we get to Chicago.”
Notes
• James Paxton is expected to make the start Thursday in Chicago. A move will need to be made to get him on the 25-man roster.
• With Wade LeBlanc now pitching out of the bullpen, Ariel Miranda will most likely get the start on Saturday.
• Taijuan Walker will get another start. Servais felt what he saw Tuesday was a step in the right direction. “His stuff was good. I didn’t think it was great but I did think he competed better,” he said. “Certainly there is a different look on his face. I don’t know if I would call it sense of urgency, but more ‘I will show you guys,’ which is good. I certainly saw it last night.”
• Hisashi Iwakuma took the loss Wednesday, but with the innings he pitched he eclipsed 162 for the season, which activates a club option in his contract for 2017 at $14 million guaranteed.
• The losses Tuesday and Wednesday are the first back-to-back home losses for the Mariners since June 11-12 (Texas).
