Mariners notebook: Bullpen looking better

HOUSTON – Has order in the Mariners’ bullpen finally been restored?

Tom Wilhelmsen picked up his fifth save in the last 10 days Tuesday while Carson Smith put up another scoreless inning, getting three big outs in the seventh. There are still areas of concern in the bullpen, but there is reason to feel better about what we are seeing from the seventh inning on.

“I think we finally got to a point where we settled things down a little bit,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “It was so hectic with so many guys getting hurt or released or whatever it was and we got it to where we want it to be right now, and now it is a matter of our starters going out and giving us the proper innings to put these guys in position to be successful.”

Logan Kensing has contributed as well. With Smith and Wilhelmsen in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, Kensing has been the go to guy for McClendon when a little more has been needed.

“He’s throwing the ball really well,” McClendon said. “If we can rest him properly he can give us quality, quality pitches. His stuff is that good.”

The turnaround with Wilhelmsen and Smith has been stunning. Wilhelmsen was given a few extra days off in mid-August before being moved back into the closer role and has responded nicely, pitching 6 1/3 scoreless innings since. After struggling in the closer role, Smith has been lockdown as a setup guy, giving McClendon seven scoreless innings since the change.

After a month of disaster after disaster for the bullpen, that group has taken just one loss in the last 10 games and that loss was in extra innings with the last available arm (David Rollins) on the hill at the time. Much better than what we saw after the trade deadline.

Lineup!

Ketel Marte, SS
Kyle Seager, 3B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Franklin Gutierrez, LF
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Stefen Romero, RF
Jesus Sucre, C
Shawn O’Malley, CF

Taijuan Walker, RHP

Montero optioned

Jesus Montero was optioned back to Triple-A Tacoma after Tuesday night’s game. The move was made to give him the opportunity to get more at-bats and get his bat going again.

“It was strictly a baseball decision to get him some at-bats,” McClendon said Wednesday. “It was a smart decision. Have him sit here for six days or go there and get possibly 30 at-bats.”

Upcoming starters

The starters have been named for the Oakland series. Edgar Olmos will start Friday and be followed by Felix Hernandez on Saturday and Hisashi Iwakuma on Sunday.

Iwakuma is being pushed a few days but McClendon said he was doing that just to give him a few extra days off. With James Paxton due to return after his start for the Rainiers Wednesday, there was some thought that the Mariners would go with a six-man rotation for a bit but McClendon said that was not in the plans.

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