Morrow has forearm tightness; short start unrelated to Snell

The moon, the stars and the line drives all were converging Saturday night. At Safeco Field, Ian Snell somehow made it through the fifth inning after he was hit on the wrist of his pitching hand by a hard line drive, At Portland, Brandon Morrow pitched five strong innings with the Tacoma Rainiers before being pulled after only 73 pitches.

Turns out Morrow's departure had nothing to do with Snell, who, by the way, has barely a mark on his wrist and says there's no doubt he'll make his next start.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said Morrow was pulled for precautionary reasons because of "a little tightness" in his right forearm. Zduriencik said the tightness is in the same area of the forearm that bothered Morrow at spring training.

"Brandon said he could have continued pitching," Zduriencik said.

Morrow will undergo two days of treatment before he's re-examined. While his next scheduled start hasn't been ruled out, it seems more likely that Morrow will be pushed back a couple of days in the least.