Mariners notebook: Better news on Taijuan Walker; still no Friday starter

DETROIT – Mariners manager Scott Servais received good news on Taijuan Walker, the MRI on the starting pitcher’s foot showing no structural damage.

“It is tendinitis,” Servais said Tuesday. “He’s still a little tender, a little sore, but it looks like an inflammation, tendinitis kind of thing.”

That was the extent of the medical report that was given. All indications are that Walker will need some rest, whether it’s an extra couple days or something that will require a trip to the disabled list. We could know more by the end of the night.

“It’s still up in the air,” Servais said of the possibility of Walker making his scheduled start on Friday. “I wish he was 100 percent and good to go, but that is not the case. It’s hard to run a guy out there and it starts affecting his shoulder, his elbow, something that never should have been in play. We have got to be cognizant of that.”

General manager Jerry Dipoto is on the trip and there have been numerous conversations with Servais and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., no doubt about the options they have for a replacement for Walker on Friday. Servais ruled out the possibility of a bullpen start, saying that with the short outings by the starters of late, they just don’t have enough relievers to have that kind of day. There are options at Triple-A with Donn Roach on the same schedule as Walker and the newly acquired Zach Lee already on the 40-man roster, but there is also the chance they do something else. I wouldn’t count out the possibility that Dipoto could acquire another starter between now and Friday.

For now, Friday’s starter is very much TBD.

Cruz’s rough stretch

Nelson Cruz has had an odd struggle of late. In his last 15 games he is hitting .274/.328/.828. Not horrible by any means, but in that time he has driven in just eight runs and hit into six double plays, which equals his total from all of last year.

The struggle appears to be situational. In an attempt to get him going a bit, Servais has Cruz in right field Tuesday instead of at DH, where he has mainly played the last few weeks.

“It gives him some other things to think about,” Servais said. “He’s just had a rough stretch. He knows it, he wears it harder than anybody. But sometimes you get into the course of the game and you just play the game instead of getting so locked in on the at-bat. Just play the game.”

How the M’s fare in hard-hit rate

ESPN’s Mark Simon put out a slew of hard-hit data on Twitter (if you don’t follow him, you should @msimonespn) and there are a couple of Mariners on the leaderboards.

Robinson Cano is 15th in baseball with a 22 percent hard-hit rate and Kyle Seager is 46th (five spots above his brother Corey) at 19.2 percent.

On the pitching side, Mike Montgomery is sixth in hard-hits-against with a 7.9 percent hard-hit rate.

Servais’ thoughts on the hard-hit stat?

“They do tell a story,” he said. “Sometimes good fortune or luck plays in our game. The hard-hit stuff kind of tells you who is squaring it up and who’s giving it up. It doesn’t lie. There is value in it. Some guys are just a bit luckier at times. The numbers can say this guy is super hot, but maybe the exit velocity or a hard-hit percentage isn’t that great, he’s just going good right now. It usually evens out over time. The guys who hit the hardest usually hit the highest and vice versa on the pitching side.”