James Paxton, Felix Hernandez will finally return to Mariners’ rotation, trying to end season on positive notes
Now it’s just about momentum. End on a something positive.
That’s true for a lot of these Seattle Mariners players now that they’re officially eliminated from the playoff chase after the Oakland Athletics won on another walk-off on Saturday night to keep the Mariners at 8.5 games back of the American League’s final wild card with eight games to play entering Sunday.
But it’s especially true of who were supposed to be the Mariners’ top two starting pitchers entering the season, left-hander James Paxton and right-hander Felix Hernandez.
Mariners manager Scott Servais confirmed to reporters on Sunday morning that Paxton will return to the rotation to start Monday’s series opener against the Athletics and that Hernandez will start Wednesday after both missed the duration of this 10-game road trip.
Paxton also wasn’t at the Mariners most recent home game against the Padres on Sept. 10 because he was battling a combination of pneumonia and influenza that required a trip to the doctor. He rejoined the team in Houston last week and tossed two bullpen sessions.
“We’ll be guarded on how far we let Paxton and Felix go, but they’ll make the starts and we’ll go from there,” Servais said.
Paxton recorded his first career no-hitter when he blanked the Blue Jays on May 8. But since July 1 – just before he first headed to the disabled list with a sore back, and then had another DL stint after being hit by a comebacker off his throwing arm before the illnesses – Paxton has made just nine starts with a 4.24 ERA in 46 2/3 innings.
The first three months of the season, Paxton had a 3.65 ERA in 17 starts.
Now, about Hernandez.
He’s returning from a strained right hamstring and his last start was Sept. 8 when he allowed one run in four innings before exiting with the injury after the fourth inning.
It would have been easy for the Mariners to shut the 32-year-old down and let him get a head start on his offseason program and how to recover from his career-worst season.
So why get him out there for one more start?
“Two reasons,” Servais said. “One – he really wants to and I think that’s good. And No. 2 – it’s important to go into the offseason with some peace of mind. We want him to have a good result and throw the ball well and give us a chance to win the ball game. He feels good with where he’s at, physically. Then we’ll gear up about what his offseason program is going to be and get him ready for next year.”
That will be some offseason program. Hernandez has a career-high 5.46 ERA for the season in 27 starts (28 appearances). He’s set to make $28 million on the final year of his $175 million contract he signed in 2013.
But Hernandez did seem to find something in the final few months of the season, really ever since he had been exiled to the Mariners’ bullpen for his first career relief appearance on Aug. 14.
“Definitely it was something that he got into,” Servais said. “He started to control his quarter turn he makes and getting more on time with that, so he wasn’t so big with the quarter turn and flying out with it. It probably doesn’t sound like a big deal but the command of the pitches and command of the fastball has been better.
“If you have less moving parts, you can be more consistent. Just like a hitter, pitchers are the same way.”
Horsin’ around
Yes, Ichiro, the Mariners special assistant to the chairman, got into a pillow fight with the Texas Rangers’ mascot outside the Mariners dugout.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ichiro's just horsin' around. <a href="https://t.co/zXFj2DtMEw">pic.twitter.com/zXFj2DtMEw</a></p>— Cut4 (@Cut4) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cut4/status/1043947047257141248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Haniger off
The last time Mitch Haniger had a day off – July 5-6 when he had a bruised knee.
Servais wasn’t letting Haniger talk him out of giving him a day on Sunday, despite Haniger’s two doubles the night before.
“There’s no talking about it, I just told him,” Servais said. “He’s having the day off.”
Haniger extended his hitting streak to 11 games on Saturday night and since Aug. 1 he’s been on a tear – batting .338 (66-for-195) with eight home runs, 20 doubles and 22 RBI, with most of that time spent as the Mariners converted leadoff hitter.
He has a .978 OPS (on-base plus slugging in that span. The first-time All-Star entered Sunday ranked 10th in the American League with 91 RBI this year.
On tap
Left-hander James Paxton (11-6, 3.83 ERA) returns to the Mariners’ rotation for a 7:10 p.m. Monday matchup at Safeco Field against the Oakland Athletics, who will start left-hander Brett Anderson (4-5, 3.96 ERA). That will begin the Mariners’ final homestand of the season, which concludes with a four-game weekend series against the Rangers.
The game will broadcast on Root Sports and 710-AM radio.
This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 12:37 PM.