Morrow finally starting to pitch in Peoria

  • By Kirby Arnold / Herald Writer
  • Saturday, August 5, 2006 9:00pm
  • Sports

Brandon Morrow’s long, hot and occasionally painful summer is about to change.

Morrow, the Seattle Mariners’ first-round draft pick in June, has pitched well recently for the Mariners’ rookie-level team in Peoria, Ariz., after arm issues interrupted his first season as a pro.

Morrow pitched two scoreless innings for Peoria on Thursday, striking out four and allowing two hits and a walk, to push his string of scoreless innings to seven in the four games he has pitched. The Mariners expect to promote him to a full-season team, probably high Class A Inland Empire, this week.

“He’s moving right along,” said Pat Rice, the Mariners’ minor league pitching coordinator. “It has taken him a while to get going, but we’ve tried to give him plenty of time to come along.”

Morrow didn’t pitch for about six weeks, from the end of his college season at Cal to the beginning of his pro career after he signed with the Mariners in June. That layoff contributed to an elbow problem that shut him down for a while.

“I don’t even think it was a sore elbow,” Rice said. “He’s been off for a month and a half and I really think it was from not being in shape more than anything. It’s what everybody goes through during spring training when they’re getting their arm in shape.”

Morrow probably will throw one more game at Peoria, getting his pitch count up to 65 or 70, Rice said.

“That should be good enough for me to get him out.” Rice said.

Elsewhere around the Mariners’ minor league system:

Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers: Right-hander Cha Seung Baek continued his strong stretch of pitching in a 4-1 victory Friday at Iowa. Baek gave up two hits and a run in eight innings, winning his sixth straight decision and running his record to 11-4. He has a 2.80 earned run average.

The Rainiers suffered a scare with left-handed pitcher Cesar Jimenez, who was pulled from his last start after one inning because of elbow soreness. He slipped on the wet mound in Iowa while making his warmup pitches and, after he pitched the first inning, he couldn’t continue. Doctors planned to evaluate him in a few days.

Infielder Michael Garciaparra went on the disabled list last week because of a strained left calf. Outfielder Chris Snelling, on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, has begun playing again on a rehab assignment.

The Rainiers entered Saturday 60-52 and 5 games behind Salt Lake in the Pacific Coast League’s Pacific North Division.

Class AA San Antonio Missions: Left-hander Travis Blackley’s comeback from shoulder surgery continues to progress well. He’s 8-8 after a late-game home run beat him last week at Frisco, but has a 3.85 ERA. Left-hander Ryan Feierabend is 9-7 with a 3.89 ERA.

The Missions entered Saturday 24-17 and first in the Texas League South, three games ahead of second-place Corpus Christi. Last-place Frisco is the hot team in the four-team division, having pulled within four games of San Antonio with seven straight victories.

Class A Inland Empire 66ers: The 66ers, who won the California League South Division first-half title, were within a game of first place Lake Elsinore on Saturday with a 20-20 record.

Right-hander Jose De La Cruz had 16 saves and a 2.66 ERA, and right-hander Jon Lockwood was 6-3 with a 3.93 ERA.

Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers: Left-hander Jose Escalona pitched five scoreless innings in a 6-2 victory over Fort Wayne last week, ending the Timber Rattlers’ six-game losing streak. Escalona is 6-11 with a 4.02 ERA and has 95 strikeouts in 1071/3 innings.

The Rattlers entered Saturday 13-29 and were 11 games out in the Midwest League’s Western Division.

Rookie-level Peoria Mariners: Right-fielder Carlos Peguero entered Saturday hitting .317, the average getting a big boost last week when he went 4-for-5 with three RBI in a victory over the Peoria Padres.

Pitcher Aric Van Gaalen is 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

The Mariners were 3-5 in the second half of the Arizona League standings, three games behind the first-place Padres.

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