Mariners send 3 pitchers to Tacoma, Hisashi Iwakuma to start Monday

OAKLAND – As promised, Lloyd McClendon answered the question many have been asking for the last two months after Friday’s game against the A’s – who will be sent down when Hisashi Iwakuma returns from the DL?

The answer is Roenis Elias, and he was not the only player optioned to Tacoma; McClendon also said that Tom Wilhelmsen and Vidal Nuno were also sent down, while Iwakuma would start Monday.

The Mariners made the moves official Saturday, calling up outfielder James Jones, reliever Mayckol Guaipe, and moving left-hander David Rollins to the active roster off the restricted list. Rollins was a Rule 5 pick and needed to be either called up or returned to the Houston Astros franchise by Saturday.

Elias finds himself the odd man out after his fellow starters who have minor-league options remaining, Taijuan Walker and Mike Montgomery, have put up strong outing after strong outing through the month of June. While Elias has stumbled a bit of late, putting up an 8.55 ERA over his last four outings, McClendon said it was still tough to send Elias down.

“Elias has thrown the ball extremely well,” he said. “He probably doesn’t deserve to be going down but we can only carry so many guys on the roster. He has options. These things are tough sometimes, but that’s the way it goes.”

As for Wilhelmsen, his struggles have lasted a lot longer. He’s allowed runs in eight of his last 12 games and has stranded just one of the 12 runners he has inherited this year. The stuff is there, he just hasn’t had good command of it.

Since Iwakuma doesn’t need to be added to the roster until Monday, there is a good chance we could see a position player or an extra reliever called up for the remainder of the Oakland series.

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