Mariners’ Matt Brash details side issue, doesn’t think it’s serious

Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Matt Brash shed light on the side issue that resulted in him exiting an appearance after just two pitches in Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Twins.

Mariners’ Matt Brash exits game after just two pitches

Brash told media members after the game in Minnesota that he’s been “dealing with some side stuff for a couple days now,” including when he threw a perfect inning in Seattle’s 7-1 win Tuesday over the Twins.

“It bugged me a little bit yesterday in my outing, and then I felt fine pregame today,” Brash said. “But kind of as soon as I tried to put more effort on the ball, I was feeling it pretty good. I threw that changeup and I couldn’t really get my arm into the right spot that like I needed to to compete. … I’ve been feeling really good on the mound, especially these last couple outings. So I felt really good in that spot, I want to be in that spot. So yeah, it’s tough, but we’ll figure it out.”

Brash, who has a 0.00 ERA in 14 appearances this season, said he didn’t think much of the side issue after pitching in colder weather Tuesday.

“Yesterday in my outing on some of my fastballs, kind of like on extension I was feeling it a little bit. But it was really cold yesterday and I was a little sore. I didn’t think anything of it,” he said. “I felt really good after and I felt good pre-game today, so I was good to go. It just kind of creeped up on me in the bullpen before I came in, and then I got in the game hoping my adrenaline would take over a little bit and kind of get through it, and I just kind of knew right away on those first couple pitches just didn’t feel right, so it’s kind of where the decision came from.”

Brash doesn’t think this will be a long-term problem.

“It’s been bugging me a little bit this past week, but nothing that’s affected me in the game like it did today. So I’m going to kind of take it day by day, go from here, meet with the team docs and kind of just figure it out. I don’t think it’s anything super serious, nothing that I’m super concerned about. It was very precautionary and I just didn’t want to make it worse.”

Veteran left-hander Gabe Speier took over for Brash without having a chance to warm up in the bullpen prior, which Brash said is a tough position to be in.

“I didn’t want to put Gabe or anybody in that situation to come in not warmed up,” Brash said. “… Felt really weird coming out of the game. I’ve never done that before. I didn’t really want to but I just felt like at that point I couldn’t really compete to my best ability… Feel bad, put Gabe in a really tough spot there. I’ve done that before, come in when it was like an injury or something like that (to another pitcher), and it’s really hard. But he battled, kept us in it.”

The Mariners have Thursday off, then will open a six-game homestand at 6:40 p.m. Friday against the Kansas City Royals. Mariners Radio Network coverage on Seattle Sports will begin at 5:30 with the pregame show.

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• White Sox call up Jarred Kelenic before playing Mariners next week
• Julio: When it’s clicking, Mariners ‘one of the best teams in baseball’
• Luis Castillo is in a tough spot in Mariners’ rotation
• Seattle Mariners seeing early payoff from Jose Ferrer trade

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