Jean Segura misses second consecutive start for Mariners with bruised shin

Jean Segura didn’t start a second consecutive game for the Seattle Mariners because of a bone bruise on his leg.

Mariners manager Scott Servais did tell reporters Friday afternoon in Oakland that Segura would be available to pinch hit if needed.

But the night before?

Servais addressed Jean Segura’s absence with noticeable terse tone. He wasn’t going to sugarcoat the Mariners being without their All-Star shortstop for what to this point is the biggest series of the season in a four-game series against the Oakland Athletics.

“Jean pulled himself out today,” Servais said after the Mariners’ 7-1 win over the Athletics on Thursday night. “He got a bruise on his shin.”

This a series the Mariners simply need to win. They won Thursday night without Segura to pull to within 4½ games of the A’s, who are directly in front of them in the race for the American League’s final wild card to the playoffs.

The Mariners entered Friday with 28 more games remaining.

And Segura leads the Mariners with 159 hits this season and a .317 batting average. He picked up his 1,000th career hit on Wednesday in San Diego before leaving the game after fouling a pitch off of his shin.

“He’s still sore today,” Servais told reporters Friday afternoon. “He’s feeling better but he had a pretty deep bone bruise on his shin. We want to make sure he feels 100 percent before he gets out there.”

Dee Gordon started at shortstop in Segura’s place on Friday, with Robinson Cano at second and Ryon Healy at first. Healy wasn’t originally in Thursday’s lineup before Segura was scratched just a few hours before game time, with Servais later revealing that Segura pulled himself out.

Healy went 2-for-4 and plated the Mariners’ first run of a five-run first inning with a two-out, bases-loaded single.

“Ryon has done a really good job swinging the bat, and the quality of the at bats have been really good the past 15-20 at-bats,” Servais said. “When Robbie (Cano) came back, we talked about how we would have to be creative in how we brought him back. I don’t want to take any one guy and just sit him on the bench. I don’t think that’s fair to anybody, either, and we need Robbie in the lineup every day to contribute offensively. So we try to get all these guys going.”

September roster

The Mariners can expand their 25-man active roster to 40 players on Saturday.

Servais said that will likely come in droves for them, with Triple-A Tacoma finishing a four-game series in El Paso on Monday and Double-A Arkansas will be in the Double-A playoffs that begin Wednesday.

“I’m expecting a group of guys here on Saturday and then when the Triple-A season officially completes we’ll get a few more guys,” Servais said. “We’ll probably have 2-3 different waves of players coming in here – and we need them. We need the arms in the bullpen and the guys who can help us late in games or make a spot start here or there.”

So who are the players most likely to help instantly?

Start with the relievers. Left-hander James Pazos had been the Mariners’ most reliable lefty bullpen option all season before the Mariners sent him to Triple-A less than two weeks ago to work on some mechanical adjustments. His fastball velocity had dipped down a few notches.

Pazos has a 2.68 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings pitched for the Mariners this season.

Right-hander Dan Altavilla recently came off of the disabled list from a strained ulnar collateral ligament, though Servais had mentioned how Altavilla looked rusty in some rehab appearances with Tacoma. There’s also right-handers Chasen Bradford, Nick Rumbelow, and Ryan Cook.

Altavilla has a 2.61 ERA in 20 2/3 innings for the Mariners, Bradford’s is 3.23 in 47 1/3 innings, Rumbelow has allowed 10 runs in 13 1/3 innings (6.75 ERA) and Cook allowed seven runs in 9 1/3 innings (6.75 ERA).

Christian Bergman, Casey Lawrence, Rob Whalen and Max Povse all have started games in Tacoma and can provide long relief options on the 40-man.

They’ll bring back David Freitas to be their third catcher. He’s hit .349/.428/.527 with four home runs in 29 games for the Rainiers.

Daniel Vogelbach didn’t have much of a place on the Mariners’ active roster because of how they stacked their bullpen with eight relievers (meaning a three-man bench and little room for a player who can only DH or play first base). But he’ll be able to have a consistent place on the Mariners roster the rest of the season after leading the Rainiers with 20 home runs in 84 games, slashing .290/.434/.545 for the Rainiers.

Veteran infielder Gordon Beckham is the Mariners’ lone other position player on the 40-man roster. He’s hit .305/.405/.465 with 10 home runs in 91 games for Tacoma.

The other call up will likely be right-hander Matt Festa, but they might wait until after the Double-A playoffs to bring him up.

“We’ll add 4-5 guys on (Saturday) and try to fortify our pitching and our bullpen and add that extra catcher – get David Freitas and a few extra guys for the bullpen,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said on his weekly show on 710-ESPN. “We don’t want to come up short, particularly with our starting pitching running on fumes right now. We want to make sure we get through these games in the event we have to bullpen it sometime.”

On tap

Left-hander James Paxton (10-5, 3.68 ERA) will return off his second stay on the disabled list to start Saturday’s game in Oakland. He’ll be opposed by right-hander Daniel Mengden (6-6, 4.28 ERA).

The game starts at 6:05 p.m. and will broadcast on Root Sports and 710-AM radio.