KANSAS CITY — This isn’t quite how the Mariners wanted to introduce recently acquired left-hander Marco Gonzales to their starting rotation.
On Saturday morning, the team announced that right-hander Felix Hernandez had been placed on the 10-day disabled list with biceps tendinitis in his right arm. He had been scheduled to start later that night against the Royals. Instead, Gonzales was recalled from Class AAA Tacoma and will take the open spot in the rotation. The discomfort is technically in Hernandez’s upper biceps and shoulder.
“Felix had some inflammation in his shoulder and his shoulder is not feeling good at all,” manager Scott Servais said. “He felt it a little bit coming out his last start in Texas. He felt the next couple days. Talking it over yesterday, we thought it was best to shut him down and try to get him back feeling good again. Don’t know how long he’ll be out.”
Gonzales’ debut with the Mariners was delayed by a day after consistent and heavy rain postponed Saturday evening’s game. The Mariners and Royals will play a traditional doubleheader on Sunday. First pitch of Game 1 is set for 1:15 p.m. CT/11:15 a.m. PT. Game 2 will being 30 minutes after the finish of Game 1. The Mariners had the longest active streak of games played without a rainout — 572. The last postponement due to rain came on April 30, 2014.
Gonzales will start the first game against KC’s lefty Danny Duffy. The Mariners will start right-hander Erasmo Ramirez in Game 2. Seattle can also bring up a 26th player for Game 2. Servais confirmed that it will be Cody Martin.
Hernandez didn’t have a particularly great outing in Texas, pitching 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts. But he didn’t have an pain in the shoulder during the game. It arose the next day.
“He hadn’t had any issues until after he came out of that start,” Servais said. “His bullpen day he did not feel good at all and that’s when I decided to shut him down.”
Hernandez left the team on Saturday morning and headed back to Seattle. He will meet with the team doctors and undergo a MRI on Monday and other tests on shoulder and upper biceps.
This is the second trip to the disabled list for Hernandez this season. He was sidelined from April 26 to June 23 with bursitis in his shoulder. Since his return, he was 3-2 with a 4.02 ERA in eight starts.
Servais wasn’t certain that the current issue is related to the previous one.
“It could be,” he said. “I’m not a doctor. It was bothering him and he wasn’t able to do much at all.”
A former first-round pick out of Gonzaga, Gonzales missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s made seven starts and five relief appearances at the big league level over three seasons, posting a 4-2 record with a 5.53 ERA.
“He’s a player the people in our organization feel very highly on,” Servais said. “I have a little history with Marco. I saw him pitch in high school and saw him pitch in college. I have an idea about the kind of guy we are getting. He’s very competitive and has good stuff. He’s been in the big leagues before. This is a his opportunity.”
The postponed game will give designated hitter Nelson Cruz an extra day to rest his ailing neck and upper back. Cruz was scratched from Friday’s game after dealing with neck spasms. He was going to play on Saturday, having gone to the field early in the day to receive treatment to get ready to play.
“He was going to give it a go tonight,” Servais said. “But another day certainly won’t hurt him.”
