Furbush ‘feeling great’ after second rehab stint with Frogs

Published 10:50 pm Monday, July 11, 2016

EVERETT — Charlie Furbush is prepared to return to the bullpen.

Once a starting pitcher in the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners organizations, Furbush made his second rehab start for the AquaSox on Monday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.

It’s a role he’s ready to relinquish.

“It’s not as familiar as I thought it was,” said Furbush, who allowed one run in two-thirds of an inning in Everett’s 9-2 loss to the Spokane Indians. “Coming out of the bullpen is definitely a different game and I’m ready to do that now. More importantly, I’m feeling great. I think that’s the most important thing to come out of this.”

A lefty specialist out of the Seattle bullpen, Furbush missed the second half of last season and the first half of this season while recovering from a partially torn rotator cuff.

“For me, it’s more about fine-tuning my delivery because I haven’t pitched in a year,” Furbush said. “So it’s going to take a little bit (and) I’m kind of treating this like my spring training and trying to get the fastball command down, because that’s going to be the most important thing. Every pitch is going to come off of that. I feel like I have a few things to work on, but overall I feel good.”

On Monday Furbush threw 21 pitches, nine for strikes. Nineteen were fastballs, but he got Blaine Prescott to swing over the top of a breaking ball for the first out

“I can still strike guys out and that was nice to see,” Furbush said. “It’s one of those things where (what’s) going to be my bread and butter is that breaking ball, especially with two strikes. I just gotta keep working on it and keep getting after it and I should be good.”

Furbush issued two walks, including one to leadoff hitter Darius Day. Furbush had Day picked off, but his toss to Everett first baseman Nick Zammarelli was wide, allowing Day to reach third. Seth Spivey drove in Day with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 Spokane lead. Xavier Turner then walked, prompting Everett manager Rob Mummau to go get Furbush and bring in Matt Festa.

Furbush said the plan is to make another rehab appearance Thursday with Triple-A Tacoma. He’ll then progress to making back-to-back appearances, followed by a two-inning stint. He said he hopes to join the Mariners when they travel to Pittsburgh July 26-27.

The AquaSox (13-12) erased a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the third thanks in part to three walks and a wild pitch.

But the Indians took the lead for good in the top of the fifth when Day drove in two with a single and later scored on Spivey’s double. Charles LeBlanc’s solo homer made it 6-2 in the sixth, and the Indians added two more in the seventh and another run in the ninth to complete the scoring. Turner drove in two of Spokane’s final three runs.

Notes

Everett outfielder Kyle Lewis was named the Northwest League Player of the Week on Monday. The No. 11 overall pick in this year’s draft is hitting .359 with 12 runs, three home runs and 11 RBI in his past 10 games.