M’s notebook: Paxton has tightness after rehab start

By Shannon Drayer

Before the Mariners’ 4-1 loss to the Astros on Sunday, Lloyd McClendon provided a little unwanted news – James Paxton was not exactly 100 percent coming out of his first rehab start.

“He came through it okay,” McClendon said. “A little triceps tightness, nothing very serious. We will see what happens in his next bullpen and we will go from there.”

The hope and belief is this is nothing more than normal soreness after a start. It was the first game situation for Paxton so no doubt it was the first time that he threw full-game effort since being placed on the DL with a strained lat. It was also the most pitches, 100 including warm up pitches, that he has thrown in over a month.

Soreness would not be out of the ordinary in this situation, but we won’t know for sure until after he throws his bullpen session, which should be either Monday or Tuesday. If he checks out of that session with no further problems, could the Mariners bring him back after just one rehab start?

“We will see how that all goes,” McClendon said.

Notes

• With Sunday’s loss to the Astros, the Mariners drop below .500 once again. They are 24-25 on the year, 10-12 at home.

• We saw the end of two notable streaks – James Jones saw his MLB-leading hit streak come to an end at 14 straight games, and Robinson Cano failed to reach base for the first time in 31 games. During Cano’s streak, he hit .372 (45×121) with 16 runs scored, nine doubles, one triple, one home run, 20 RBIs and 10 walks.

• The Angels made a pitching change before the four-game series at Safeco Field that starts Monday. Matt Shoemaker, who was scheduled to start Thursday, has been optioned to Triple-A. As of now Thursday is listed as TBA, but LHP Wade LeBlanc has been called up. The M’s will face at least two lefties in the series with Tyler Skaggs starting Monday and C.J. Wilson on Wednesday. RHP Jered Weaver will start Tuesday. The Mariners are 12-8 against left-handed starters this season.

• This got by me on my off days but there is a chance that we could see Ichiro on the mound for the Yankees at some point this season. Joe Girardi says he wouldn’t hesitate to ask him to step in if they were in a situation where they needed a position player to take the mound. The article includes video of Ichiro pitching in a game in Japan as well as his comments on exactly where he would like to pitch.

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