Mariners place Crawford on 10-day IL; Emerson day to day with back tightness

BALTIMORE -- The Mariners are all of a sudden down two shortstops.

The pain in J.P. Crawford's right hand persisted enough to the point that the Mariners have shut the shortstop down for the next week, placing the veteran on the 10-day injured list ahead of Monday’s four-game series opener against the Orioles with a right hand contusion.

Then, one hour before first pitch, rookie Colt Emerson -- Crawford’s fill-in, after shifting from third base the past few days -- was scratched with back tightness.

“A little bit of a back spasm during the warmup today when he was taking ground balls,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said after Seattle’s 6-3 win. “So don't expect it to be long; day to day.”

That pushed Cole Young into his first career start at shortstop, with Ryan Bliss taking over for Young at second base. Bliss, who’d been on the club’s taxi squad in Detroit, was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma as the corresponding roster move for Crawford.

The Mariners had anticipated that they’d likely be without Crawford upon arriving at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but the development on Emerson is new.

And he’s been one of the most consistent hitters for an already banged-up roster.

Through his first three weeks in The Show, the 20-year-old has slashed .242/.319/.548 (.867 OPS) with a 30.4% K rate and 7.2% walk rate over 69 plate appearances. And 10 of Emerson’s 15 hits have been for extra bases, including four homers, one triple and five doubles.

For Crawford, the contusion was caused by the 95.6 mph two-seam fastball that he took from Framber Valdez on Friday.

“He's doing OK,” Wilson said. “It's just coming a little bit slower than we thought, and so I think it's probably the smart thing to do at this point. And it'll be retroactive, so hopefully we'll get him back as soon as possible. But there's still quite a bit of pain in there.”

Crawford missed the following two games in Detroit, and as such, the move is retroactive to Saturday -- meaning the earliest that Crawford can return is next Tuesday, when the club opens its next homestand. But the Mariners are still evaluating his timeline.

“It's hard to say at this point,” Wilson said. “But I think, knowing J.P., the competitor that he is, and wanting to be out on the field, he'll make it as short as it can be.”

Young has just two innings of experience at shortstop over his first 143 career games, but the 22-year-old did play there more than any other position during his time in the Minors (241 games).

Crawford will stay with the Mariners through the remaining seven games of this road trip, which concludes this weekend in Washington.

But it still represents a blow to Seattle’s lineup, as Crawford is slashing .228/.356/.409 (.765 OPS) with 10 homers, good for 126 wRC+ (league average is 100). He’s been their primary leadoff man, too, and has a .396 on-base percentage out of that spot.

Young, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games on Monday, took over at leadoff for just the second time once Crawford went down and has remained there since. He’s also played every inning over each of the Mariners’ first 67 games, and they may want to get him a day off at some point.

That obviously will be a challenge while Emerson is sidelined.

“He's approached the game differently,” Wilson said of Young, “and I think taking care of himself and his body has been one of those things, and it's really paid off. And he seems to be maintaining his strength and his stamina. It's been outstanding.”

Beyond Crawford and Emerson, the Mariners are already without their top run producer (catcher Cal Raleigh) and best contact hitter (infielder Brendan Donovan), though Raleigh began a Minor League rehab assignment on Sunday at High-A Everett and could return as soon as Seattle’s next homestand.