After all the excitement of a 52-pitch simulated game this morning for Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee, what could top that?
Nothing because, really, we’re talking Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee. However, this afternoon’s game against the Padres, a 9-3 Mariners loss, was noteworthy on several fronts.
Foremost is a hamstring injury by shortstop Jack Wilson, who felt tightness in his right leg while making a play in the field in the third inning. Wilson stayed in the game and scored from first base on Ichiro Suzuki’s triple in the bottom of the third, and came out of the game after that.
Manager Don Wakamatsu said Wilson would be re-evaluated Saturday, but at this point the team is describing it as “tightness.”
Wilson has experienced a fair amount of leg pains and strains in his career. He had problems with both hamstrings last year after being traded to the Mariners by the Pirates, and he missed the final 17 games because of a bruised right heel.
He missed eight games in 2006 with a strained right hamstring, seven games in 2007 with tightness in the same hamstring (and also the birth of his child), and was on the 15-day disabled list in 2008 because of a strained left calf.
Other developments in today’s game:
—After Luke French pitched two strong innings and the Mariners gave him a 2-0 lead, left-hander Garrett Olson struggled to find the strike zone and was torched in his first exhibition outing. Olson, among the four pitchers trying to win the fifth starter’s job, gave up three hits, four walks and six earned runs before Wakamatsu lifted him with two outs in the third inning. The Padres scored eight runs in the inning.
— Mark Lowe pitched a dazzling inning, with two strikeouts, and Steven Shell worked two scoreless innings. Josh Fields allowed a hit, a walk and a run in his inning and Kanekoa Texeira one hit in a scoreless inning.
—In perhaps the most personally satisfying inning of the game, Chad Cordero pitched around a leadoff single and got the next three outs in the ninth in his first exhibition game in two years. Cordero had labrum surgery on his right shoulder in July, 2008, and has fought through a lot of pain to get this far.
Cordero struggled early in the week in an intrasquad game, blaming himself for getting too antsy. Today, he stayed calm and pitched well.
“It’s a huge relief,” he said. “The whole game I was nervous. But once I threw that first strike, it was like, ‘OK.’ I didn’t worry about anything. I can’t wait for the next time. I wish I was pitching tomorrow. Having two years off and going through the rehab, it wasn’t a fun thing. I want to enjoy this as long as I can.”
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