Another Mariners starting pitcher lands on the DL; who will start on Wednesday now?

The Seattle Mariners on Monday placed left-hander Marco Gonzales on the 10-day disabled list with a cervical muscle strain in his neck.

Although Gonzales has struggled over the month of August — he’s gone 0-4 with a 10.35 ERA in four starts—neither he nor the team had indicated a DL stint was imminent. He was scheduled to start Wednesday’s game against the San Diego Padres and his replacement had not been named.

The Mariners have options to replace Gonzales, who is eligible to come of the DL on Sept. 3. Gonzales joins left-hander James Paxton (bruised left forearm) on the DL, but they could activate Paxton anytime, especially since he looked good in his most recent bullpen session in Arizona.

The Mariners have been holding Paxton off more as a formality because they don’t want to pitch him in a National League park (let’s be honest, do you want to give him a bat?), and they’d prefer to save him for when they head to Oakland for a pivotal four-game series starting Thursday.

But with Felix Hernandez set to start for the second time since being added back to the rotation from the bullpen on Tuesday, the Mariners could start right-hander Erasmo Ramirez on Wednesday on four days rest because of Monday’s off day. Ramirez allowed one run in six innings on Friday.

So expect Hernandez on Tuesday, Ramirez on Wednesday and Paxton in Oakland on Thursday.

Seattle made a corresponding roster move on Monday and recalled outfielder Guillermo Heredia from Triple-A Tacoma.

Gonzales, 26, has already thrown a career-high 145 2/3 innings and a career-high 25 starts two years after he had Tommy John surgery on his elbow that caused him to miss the entire 2016 season. Last year, he pitched 126 1/3 innings between the majors and minors.

Gonzales is 12–9 with a 4.32 ERA this season. He allowed a career-high eight earned runs in his most recent start in a 10-7 loss to the Astros.

Heredia gives the Mariners a defensive option off of the bench, though he’s hit .217 with four home runs in 105 games before he was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma last week.

Heredia went 3-for-16 (.188) in five games with the Rainiers in his latest trip to the minors.

Manager makeover

Mariners manager Scott Servais made that bet with closer Edwin Diaz much earlier this season thinking it was unlikely Diaz would get 50 saves in a season.

Diaz did that with well over a month to go, and he made sure to give Servais the game ball after he saved the Mariners’ 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks on Saturday, a day after passing Fernando Rodney for most saves in a season in Mariners history.

“Pretty cool,” Servais told reporters. “That’s a save that Eddie and all of us will remember. First and third with nobody out and to wiggle out of it.”

So now Servais has to pay up with a haircut that matches the lines in DIaz’s hair. The 24-year-old closer said he’s going to make sure his manager gets the haircut during their two-game stay in San Diego.

“We’re trying to get the barber to come down as soon as possible,” Diaz told reporters.

And this should be a good sign for the Mariners. Of the previous 16 occurrences since the saves became an official baseball stat in 1969 that a team’s closer saved 50 games in a season, 11 of those teams reached the playoffs.

Only the Mariners (74-57) have 31 games remaining and entered their Monday trailing the Oakland Athletics by five games for the AL’s final wild card and the division-leading Houston Astros by 6.5 games.

This story was originally published August 27, 2018 at 4:04 PM.