Darrin Beene

The News Tribune

The Seattle Mariners roster just got a mini-makeover, all because of pitcher James Paxton’s aching back.

As expected, the Mariners placed Paxton on the 10-day disabled list on Friday, which set in motion a series of moves that brings in three new players to the team as it readies for its final series before next week’s All-Star break. Here’s who’s up from Triple-A Tacoma:

• Pitcher Christian Bergman, who will start Friday’s game at Denver, a move that was signaled on Thursday.

• Pitchers Casey Lawerence and Mike Morin, to bolster the bullpen that was depleted when Paxton did not make it out of the first inning of Thursday’s 11-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

Going down to the Rainiers is reliever Nick Rumbelow and infielder Gordon Beckham.

Rumbelow struggled in the two outings with the Mariners since being promoted from Tacoma on July 10, giving up five runs in three innings. Beckham goes down largely because the Mariners need an extra arm after burning through five relievers and position player Andrew Romine to get through Thursday’s game.

Paxton faced five batters — surrendering three runs and two home runs — to the Angels before coming out of the game with back stiffness. He appeared to stretch his lower back, then sway side to side to stretch some more before Mariners trainer Matt Toth ran out to attend to him, followed by pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. and manager Scott Servais. He had topped out with a 95.4-mph fastball against Mike Trout, who singled.

“Nothing serious,” Servais told reporters afterward. “He’s been checked out by doctors here. Obviously that was his last outing before the All-Star break so he’ll have some time to calm it down and recoup and I fully expect him to come out of the break and be ready to go.”

Paxton threw 17 pitches. The rough outing pushed Paxton’s ERA to 3.70 and he was tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 8-4.

“I was hoping it would loosen up,” Paxton said. “I went into the game hoping the adrenaline would get me through it. But I wasn’t getting extension, there was no life on the ball and they were just floating in there.

“When it’s coming in there and there’s no life on it — for me, it’s not going to go well.”

Paxton said he didn’t get any instructions for what sort of work he’ll need to do to be ready by the end of the All-Star break, but he took some muscle relaxers and said he plans to let it relax and calm down.

“I think this is just a really small thing,” Paxton said. “Nothing that will linger or stay around.

“I wanted to go out there and finish strong and help us win the series. It’s all about winning games. They all count. We all want to make it to the postseason. I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to give a good effort. I tried. I really wanted it. I just wasn’t able to do it.”

The Mariners have often said their hope for Paxton this season was that he just stay healthy. He went to some unique lengths this offseason to help ensure that, including going through muscle activation techniques and getting rid of cow milk from his diet (that’s right, no more milkshakes).

He’s previously missed starts for the Mariners because of finger injuries, torn nails, blisters, bruised forearms, a pectoral strain, forearms strain, a contusion in his left elbow and a strained left latissimus dorsi muscle.

“I haven’t had anything really structural, knock on wood,” Paxton said this spring. “Nothing really serious like in the shoulder or elbow. A minor thing in my forearm but it’s wasn’t UCL. Just very odd injuries and the good thing is none of them have reoccurred. None. I’ve learned how to not have that injury occur again.

“So hopefully I’ve checked off some boxes and don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

Now add lower back stiffness.

But the Mariners were likely just being cautious, especially with his history and the All-Star break coming up.

Paxton has already pitched 119 1/3 innings this season in 19 starts. He had 24 starts and threw 136 innings all of last season and 20 starts and 121 innings in 2016.

The News Tribune staff writer TJ Cotterill contributed to this report.