Unheralded arms help Mariners navigate key injuries to ‘pen

The injuries have started to pile up for the Seattle Mariners over the past few weeks.

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Most notably, the Mariners are currently without slugging catcher Cal Raleigh and third baseman Brendan Donovan, their big offseason trade acquisition and leadoff hitter.

The bullpen has also taken some hits along the way. Shutdown right-hander Matt Brash went on the injured list May 1 with right lat inflammation, and standout left-hander Gabe Speier went on the IL May 4 with left shoulder inflammation.

The good news for the Mariners on the reliever front is Brash was activated off the IL on Wednesday, and Speier made his first rehab appearance with High-A Everett on Wednesday night.

The return of Brash and eventual return of Speier will be key for Seattle, but some of the less heralded arms in the bullpen have been able to hold their own and provide quality innings while the two high-leverage arms have been out. Former Mariner and MLB reliever Charlie Furbush shared some praise for how the bullpen has navigated the impactful injuries the past few weeks during Tuesday’s edition of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

“I think the bullpen is doing as good a job as it can right now,” Furbush said. “And you look at some other guys that the Mariners have brought up in a guy like (Nick) Davila, some guys that I think that you will continue to find value (from) and will be successful in this bullpen. We’ve seen this time and time again where the Mariners bring up a guy or get a guy and you’re like, who is this guy? Wait a minute. Oh, he’s really good.

“So I think that’s what you’re seeing is you’re seeing some guys that you wouldn’t typically see that maybe are having to fill a spot due to an injury, and that just shows you… the Mariners draft and develop so well that even if they may not be a top 10 (or) 20 prospect, he’s still a really good pitcher and could be serviceable in this bullpen.”

In the 15 games the M’s played without both Brash and Speier, the bullpen posted a 2.93 ERA, the ninth-best in baseball over that stretch. The unit also had the fourth-highest left on base rate (83.1%), fifth-lowest walk rate (8.5%) and ninth-best strikeout rate (24.4%).

Davila, a right-hander who was called up from Double-A on May 2, impressed Furbush the most out of the lesser-known arms in the bullpen. The 27 year old pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings over five appearances while Brash and Speier were both out. In eight total appearances on the season, he’s struck out 10 batters and allowed two runs on six hits and one walk over nine innings.

“I think that slider that he has has been kind of a surprisingly really good secondary pitch for a guy out of the bullpen who you really didn’t know what you’re going to get,” Furbush said. “So I point to his slider and say, yeah, that’s the pitch that I think that is going to allow him to navigate this league in ways that would be more difficult if you didn’t have kind of a strikeout pitch.”

Series to remember

It’s been a difficult month for the M’s. On top of the injures, they entered Wednesday with a 7-11 record in May.

Things would look even worse if it weren’t for taking three games of a four-game series in Houston last week. During that series, the Mariners were also without left-hander Jose A. Ferrer while he was on the paternity list. But the bullpen didn’t allow an earned run over 14 innings of work. That included Davila, Domingo González, Alex Hoppe, Cooper Criswell and Josh Simpson combining for 10 1/3 innings with only an unearned run allowed.

Furbush believes that series from the bullpen could become an easy-to-forget important factor for the team, especially if its in a tight race for a playoff spot down the line.

“You look back on those points in the year and you go, wow, those games were so important,” Furbush said. “And to know that we did it without our A guys, that just shows you that this team is way deeper than it appears.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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