SEATTLE _ The stories of Adrian Beltre’s ability to endure intense pain already were legendary.
He suffered a ruptured appendix in the winter of 2001 and, trying to speed his recovery, wore a colostomy bag while he fielded ground balls that spring. He has played most of the past two seasons with shoulder pain that would have forced many other players off the field.
Wednesday, Beltre went from legend to mythical in the pain department.
The Mariners placed him on the 15-day disabled list with a severely bruised right testicle after he was hit by a hard ground ball in the ninth inning in Wednesday’s game. There’s more.
Beltre played the rest of the 14-inning game, once diving to pick the White Sox’s Scott Podsednik off third base, another time lunging back to first base to avoid being picked off, and finally sprinting home from second base on Ken Griffey Jr.’s game-winning hit in the bottom of the 14th.
The extent of the damage, and whether Beltre will need surgery, won’t be known until a specialist examines him.
“I think the best-case scenario would be 10 days,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “It could be longer than that, just depends on whether he requires surgery on it or not. A major surgery could be at least a month and maybe more than that.
“He’s awfully tough. I couldn’t even imagine. Most guys would have been on the ground for an hour or longer.”
For all his toughness, Beltre’ unwillingness to wear a protective cup didn’t help. He revealed during a spring training interview last year that he has never felt comfortable during the few times he tried to wear a cup.
“I don’t think I remember an injury like that,” Wakamatsu said. “I guess the word is, no matter how good you are, that one chance is not worth taking.”
The entire left side of the Mariners’ infield took a hit Wednesday night.
Besides Beltre, shortstop Jack Wilson suffered a light strain of his right hamstring and was expected to miss at least four games. The Mariners weren’t ruling out DL time for Wilson, although he suffered a similar injury early this season with the Pirates and missed four games.
The Mariners called up Josh Wilson from Class AAA Tacoma, and he started at shortstop Wednesday in the opener against the Yankees. Jack Hannahan, who replaced Beltre at third base most of July as he recovered from shoulder surgery, started at third.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog
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