Mariners takeaways: Kyle Lewis placed on IL with meniscus tear; more injuries impact rotation
Yacksel Rios, recently acquired in a trade with the Rays, tossed an inning in relief for the Mariners on Saturday night in Anaheim.
With his first pitch against the Angels, the right-hander became the 48th player to appear in a game for Seattle in a season that is only 60 games old.
The 48 players the Mariners have played the past nine weeks — including 28 pitchers and 20 position players — leads the majors.
While the Mariners certainly aren’t alone in their need to continually run out new players following a series of injuries early on, many teams around the league have needed less than 40 to get to this point.
But, the injuries only continue to pile up for Seattle, causing the roster to shift seemingly almost daily.
The club entered last week with 15 players on the injured list, and while they activated ace Marco Gonzales and a pair of relievers in the past week, they also sent two more regulars to the 10-day IL, bringing that number back to 14 as of Sunday morning.
The same day Gonzales was activated on Tuesday, starting center fielder Kyle Lewis was placed on the IL with a right meniscus tear.
The following day, starting pitcher Justin Dunn landed on the IL with inflammation in his right shoulder.
Saturday night, starter Yusei Kikuchi fell to the infield grass after a sharp comebacker hit him in the right knee.
“We’ve gone through a lot injury-wise,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said postgame Saturday.
For a moment, it seemed the club’s early-season injury troubles might be resolving, with Opening Day starters Ty France and Jake Fraley back in the lineup, infielders Dylan Moore and Evan White progressing toward rehab assignments and Opening Day starter Gonzales ready to return.
Then, after trying to track down a long fly ball in the eighth inning Monday night against the A’s, Lewis was removed from the game with knee discomfort, and placed on the IL the following afternoon.
This is Lewis’ second trip to the IL this spring. He opened the season on the IL with a bone bruise in the same knee after colliding with the wall during a spring training game.
Mariners general manager suggested Thursday morning during his weekly radio segment on 710 ESPN Seattle he does not expect Lewis’ absence to be short.
“Much like we experienced coming out of spring training, anything that we do with Kyle we’re going to make sure that we’re hypersensitive to (his) needs,” Dipoto said during his segment. “We want him to have a long career here in Seattle and to thrive, and my guess is that is going to result this time in a bit of prolonged absence.
“I am hopeful that we’ll see him again this year on the field, but I don’t think it’s going to be quick.”
Servais said last week Lewis was seeking a second opinion on a course of treatment. The club will likely know more early this week.
“The sad thing is he was on a great routine,” Servais said last week. “He was feeling really good. I know just talking to him daily it’s the best his legs have felt underneath him. We certainly saw what he was doing at the plate and the bat was really heating up. We’re going to miss him a ton.”
In the 36 games Lewis played since returning from his first IL stint on April 20, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year hit .246/.333/.392 with 15 runs scored, four doubles, five home runs, 11 RBI, two stolen bases and 16 walks to 37 strikeouts.
The outlook for the Mariners’ rotation in the coming days seems more encouraging.
While Dunn missed his most recent scheduled start with the shoulder inflammation, he is expected to make his next turn Friday in Cleveland.
“We fully expect Justin Dunn to make the start,” Servais said Friday. “We really do. He’s moving along fine.”
Servais also offered optimism about Kikuchi pregame Sunday. He said the left-hander was receiving treatment for minimal swelling in his right knee, but was feeling perhaps better than expected.
Kikuchi worked efficiently through his first four innings Saturday night in Anaheim — and struck out eight — before he was hit in the knee by David Fletcher’s comebacker. Kikuchi fell to the ground, clearly in pain, and was helped back to the dugout, but Servais said the pitcher was able to put weight on the knee later on.
“He felt better after he got up in the clubhouse, but it’s going to be sore,” Servais said postgame. “He got hit very square. The ball went right back toward the catcher, so it was not a glancing blow.”
The Mariners will continue to monitor Kikuchi’s progress ahead of his next planned start, which is set for Saturday in Cleveland.
“He’s got some time before his next scheduled start, so we’ll just have to wait and see how he continues to respond there,” Servais said.
GONZALES RETURNS
The Mariners did return one key contributor back last week in Gonzales, who was activated from a month-long stint on the IL on Tuesday.
Gonzales was scheduled for a shorter start as he builds his workload back up, and tossed four efficient innings against the A’s, allowing one run on two hits while walking one and matching his season-high with six strikeouts.
“I thought Marco looked great,” Servais said postgame that night. “Really sharp. Had good command. His stuff was good. … We’ve missed him. There’s no question about it.
“He was going to have a shorter leash tonight. Great to get him up to 50 pitches and then he can build on that next time out.”
The start against Oakland was Gonzales’ first since April 27 against Houston. He posted back-to-back quality starts against the Dodgers and Astros, but was placed on the IL with a left forearm strain on April 29.
Gonzales is scheduled to make his seventh start of the season Tuesday in Detroit.
ON DECK
The Mariners have an off day Monday before beginning a three-game series Tuesday in Detroit, and will then head to Cleveland for a three-game set Friday.
They return home Monday for their longest homestand of the season so far, when they will host the Twins for three games, the Rays for four and the Rockies for two.
This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
