DETROIT — Even if Seattle had won, this would have been a tough day for the Mariners.
Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano left in the third inning of Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers with a fracture in his right hand.
“I see a specialist on Tuesday morning,” Cano said. “They didn’t say anything about how long I might be out, but it is broken bad, so there might be surgery. All I can do is do whatever it takes to get 100 percent and get back as soon as I can.”
Cano hasn’t missed a game this year and has played in at least 150 games in 11 straight seasons. The team said he fractured the fifth metacarpal in his right hand.
“It’s disappointing to lose both the game and our second baseman,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “That’s just a freak accident — something that happens in this game. Everyone knows what he means to this team, and he’s down right now, but we have other guys who can step up.”
Cano tried to get out of the way of an 88-mph fastball from Tigers starter Blaine Hardy, a graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School, but the pitch hit the back of Cano’s hand.
Andrew Romine replaced Cano in Seattle’s lineup. Cano was later shown in the dugout with his hand in a cast.
Cano is a bit of an iron man. Since his major-league debut in May 2005, he has played in 2,035 games — more than any player in that span — just ahead of Ichiro Suzuki (2,017) and the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera (2,005), who is on the disabled list.
Cano is batting .287 this season, with four home runs and 23 RBI.
Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner has been on the DL since the beginning of the season with the same injury. The Pirates’ Josh Harrison missed six weeks because of the same injury suffered during spring training (also after being hit by a pitch).
“I’ll talk to (general manager) Jerry (Dipoto) and the guys later today and we’ll see where we’re headed,” Servais said. “He’ll probably be out for a little while. But our lineup is deep enough to absorb losing Robby for a period of time, but we’ll need other guys to step up.”
Seattle’s starting center fielder, Dee Gordon, won a Gold Glove at second base with the Miami Marlins in 2015, but Servais ruled out moving him back to second base.
“No, not at this point,” Servais said. “We’ll have to wait and see what’s best for the ball club and see how long Robby is actually out. And we’ll make a decision from there. We’ll look at internal options at second base and we’ll go from there.”
The Mariners committed in the offseason to turning Gordon into a center fielder. Moving him back to the infield could hinder that development.
So what are the Mariners’ options?
They could use Romine, but his bat doesn’t suggest he’s an every-day player. They could recall utility player Taylor Motter from Triple-A Tacoma, but same goes for him.
So maybe that means a spot for 31-year-old Gordon Beckham?
Beckham was batting .300/.412/.500 for Tacoma and he has a hit in all but six of the 25 games he’s played so far. But even better is that he has big-league experience at second base, starting there regularly for the Chicago White Sox from 2010-14.
If the Mariners wanted to look outside the organization — which they indicated they wouldn’t — 36-year-old Brandon Phillips is still a free agent. Phillips is a three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner who hit .285 in 144 games last season with the Braves and Angels.
“You can’t replace that guy,” Mariners pitcher James Paxton said of Cano. “But we have a good team here and a good lineup and we have some guys stepping up and playing well right now. We should be just fine.”
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