Mariners notebook: Despite struggles, Paxton is closer to a return

James Paxton didn’t make it out of the first inning Sunday in his first rehab start with Tacoma since straining the middle finger of his left hand, but he did throw 36 pitches and take another step closer to a return to the Mariners.

“They fouled off a lot of pitches,” said Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon. “I didn’t think his command was really that bad. Just missed some pitches. He was up to 95, he felt good, he built to 50 pitches in the bullpen. He came out of it clean for the most part.”

Paxton is scheduled to make his next start Friday for the Rainiers and the hope is to get him to 65 to 70 pitches. Because he was not able to get out of the first inning Sunday and therefore not experience getting up and down in that game, he most likely will need a third rehab start as well. There was plenty of good Sunday, however, despite not being able to get to three outs.

While they will not rush Paxton back, his fresh arm will be needed as McClendon looks to keep both Taijuan Walker and Mike Montgomery to reasonable innings counts in their first full big league seasons.

Walker is at 146 2/3 innings after throwing 120 between the minors and Seattle last year. With rehab starts and fall ball, however, he threw closer to 145 innings in 2014, so an additional 20 to 40 innings would not be an out of the ordinary jump for him. Still, it will be tough to keep him to whatever limit the Mariners have put on him.

“We have several things on the table,” said McClendon when asked how he would control Walker’s innings. “I just have to figure it out. I think it is safe to say we are concerned about their innings.”

A return by Paxton will help. Roenis Elias being added to the rotation could help too, although his innings will need to be watched as well. Walker could be skipped or bumped a few days here and there. The Mariners could go with a six-man rotation for a turn or two when Paxton returns. Ideally they would like to find a way for Walker to pitch to the end of the season rather than shut him down early, but that may not be an option.

“I’m not sure it’s possible,” McClendon said. “We’ll see.”

Not anytime soon however. It’s not a decision that needs to be made right away but it is a situation that will continue to be monitored.

Lineup!

Ketel Marte, SS
Kyle Seager, 3B
Nelson Cruz, RF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Franklin Gutierrez, DH
Austin Jackson, CF
Mark Trumbo, LF
Jesus Montero, 1B
Mike Zunino, C

Hisashi Iwakuma, RHP

Notes

• The closer situation is up in the air again. McClendon is taking it day to day trying to get Carson Smith into the best situations he can. If there is a save situation tonight McClendon said he would go to Tom Wilhelmsen again.

• Joe Beimel is on the mend from his shoulder inflammation. He played catch today for the first time since going on the DL and told me Sunday that he expects to be ready to go when the 15 days are up on Sept. 4.

• The Mariners participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge today. Nelson Cruz, Brad Miller and Mike Zunino received the pregame ice-water dousing and forwarded the challenge on to the Tampa Rays. MLB is donating $100,000 to the ALS Association.

• The A’s have made a change at third base coach. Mike Gallego is out and Ron Washington is back on the field. Washington had been with the A’s as an infield coach. The A’s have had 19 runners thrown out at home this year.

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