TODAY’S GAME
Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Safeco Field
TV: Fox Sports Net (cable)
Radio: KIRO (710 AM)
Pitchers: Seattle right-hander Freddy Garcia (4-2, 3.63 earned run average) vs. right-hander Mike Smith (0-2, 9.00).
Abbott on disabled list
One of the major reasons for pitcher Paul Abbott’s struggles this spring came to light Tuesday. His right shoulder is not well, and the Mariners placed him on the 15-day disabled list.
Abbott, 1-3 with an 11.96 ERA, tried to pitch through his shoulder problem as he sought to recapture the changeup that has been his most effective pitch. The shoulder may be the root of the problem.
In order to throw a changeup that has good movement, Abbott worked to elevate his arm higher before his release. The shoulder, however, wouldn’t allow him to get full extension and, as a result, his changeup didn’t have its usual movement. He was hit hard, many times after he had gotten ahead of hitters in the count and tried to throw the change.
Bernie Williams’ two-run homer in the ninth inning Sunday in New York followed a scenario that had become too common this season for Abbott. Within one strike of ending the game, Abbott threw a non-moving changeup that Williams hit into the right-field bleachers.
“It’s like getting struck by a bolt of lightning,” Abbott said. “I get two outs, I get a guy 1-2 and shake (the catcher) three times to get to the changeup because I’m out there to work on it. And he hits one out. You hear about pitchers making a bad pitch and getting away with it. It doesn’t seem like I’m getting away with anything. It’s like getting struck by a bolt of lightning.”
Abbott went 1-2 in five starts before the Mariners moved him to the bullpen to work on his mechanics. In two relief appearances on the recent road trip, he allowed nine runs in five innings.
Abbott’s move to the DL is retroactiove to Monday. He will be replaced on the roster by righthanded pitcher Justin Kaye, who was 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA in 12 games at Class AAA Tacoma.
Edgar almost ready: Designated hitter Edgar Martinez ran the bases before batting practice Tuesday and, if there are no setbacks, will return to the Mariners next Tuesday.
Manager Lou Piniella said Martinez probably will play this weekend for Class AAA Tacoma before he’s activated. He had arthroscopic surgery April 13 to remove a ruptured tendon behind his left knee after he was injured on April 11.
“I’m very happy the way I’m feeling right now,” Martinez said.
Trainer Rick Griffin said Martinez must be most careful with his first few steps.
“He’s got to be careful coming out of the box,” Griffin said. “A hitter’s first instinct is to explode out of the box. He needs to pick up his speed gradually.”
Well heeled: Second baseman Bret Boone continued to show a slight limp as he walked Tuesday, but he said his sore left heel won’t keep him from playing like it did last year when he suffered a similar injury.
“I was on crutches for a day last year and missed two games with it,” he said.
Boone feared last year that he’d damaged the plantar fascia tissue in the foot, an injury that sidelined former Mariner Jay Buhner most of the year.
“I was scared last year that that’s what it was,” he said. “But we had an MRI done on it and it wasn’t. This isn’t as bad as last year. It just flares up once in a while.”
Pitching change: The Mariners promoted right-handed pitcher Julio Mateo from Class AAA Tacoma on Tuesday and sent down left-hander Brian Fitzgerald.
Mateo, a 22-year-old who pitched in 28 games for the Class A Everett AquaSox in 1998, was 1-0 with a 0.52 ERA in 12 relief appearances for Class AA San Antonio and 1-0 without allowing an earned run at Class AAA Tacoma. In 20 1/3 total innings this year, he has allowed just four hits, four walks and struck out 22.
He’ll pitch in middle relief for the Mariners, Piniella said.
“He throws hard, he’s got a good slider and a little split-finger,” Piniella said. “I told him not to do much different from what he’d done (in the minors).”
The departure of Fitzgerald, who appeared in six games for the Mariners, leaves Piniella without a second left-hander in the bullpen, which goes against his preference.
“I’m a proponent of two lefties who get people out,” he said. “If they’re not (getting hitters out), I’m a proponent of one lefty.”
Piniella said the team probably would operate with a 12-man pitching staff until Edgar Martinez comes off the disabled list on Tuesday.
To make room for Mateo on the 40-man major league roster, the Mariners designated right-handed pitcher Wascar Serrano, who pitched 10 games at Tacoma, for assignment.
Wall padding: The Mariners got their first look at the padding that was installed along the concrete-and-metal railing near the right- and left-field lines. M’s right fielder Ichiro Suzuki hit that barrier chasing a pop foul in the last homestand and suffered a cut knee that required four stitches.
Piniella was curious how the baseball will carom off the softer surface and he spent a few minutes before batting practice Tuesday throwing balls against it.
“It’s a little different,” he said. “If the ball’s hit hard there, it comes off pretty good,” he said. “It’s going to be a truer bounce than the way it was.”
Kirby Arnold
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