TORONTO -- The Mariners were hopeful that Emerson Hancock would be able to make his next scheduled start on Wednesday in Boston, but were ultimately forced to place the right-hander on the 15-day injured list.
That move came ahead of Sunday’s 7-0 loss in Toronto -- two days after Hancock took an awkward tumble when making a leaping tag for a putout in Friday’s loss.
Hancock’s injury is classified as a left adductor strain, and is retroactive to Saturday -- meaning he would first be eligible to return on Sept. 13, when the Mariners are in West Sacramento facing the A’s.
“Obviously, the goal is to pitch again,” Hancock said, “to see, can we get this thing calmed down? Can I come back and help the team in any role possible? And it's probably going to be a day-to-day thing because it's, again, a weird play and also for me, a weird injury in terms of ‘I don't know how fast it will recover or what it's going to feel like.’”
In a corresponding move, reliever Nick Davila was added from Seattle’s taxi squad to its bullpen as a fresh arm.
Meanwhile, Bryce Miller is expected to make an immediate return to the Mariners’ rotation, manager Dan Wilson said after Sunday’s loss at Rogers Centre.
Miller was seen throwing a lengthy bullpen before Sunday’s matinee at Rogers Centre -- custom for a pitcher on a starter’s workload –- which would keep him as an option to start in Hancock’s place on Wednesday. Doing so eliminated any chance of Miller pitching in relief on Sunday.
“Likely, it’ll be Bryce on Wednesday,” Wilson said.
Hancock, who went through a light pregame workout that included playing catch, was seen watching Miller in the bullpen but did not throw himself.
Regardless, losing Hancock for at least two weeks is a blow for a team clawing to remain in the American League playoff race. After this weekend’s sweep, Seattle (64-73) dropped to nine games below .500.
Hancock’s workout on Sunday was to put more exertion on the area, before attempting to throw an in-between-starts bullpen.
“As I continued to throw, mix all pitches, it just did not feel good,” Hancock said. “It didn't feel right.”
At that point, Hancock huddled with Seattle’s athletic training staff and the decision was made. The roster move was then announced roughly 45 minutes before first pitch on Sunday.
“With the timeline of where everything's at, Wednesday would have been really, really tough,” Hancock said. “It would've put us in a tough position as a team to kind of not know what's going to go on.”
Hancock is unsure how limited he’ll be in the coming days. The pain persisted during Friday’s outing but not to the point where he felt it was a detriment to himself or the team.
After the tumble, he surrendered three runs in the first inning, two of which were compounded via a throwing error from rookie shortstop Brock Rodden. Then he went scoreless in the second, third and fourth, before surrendering a pair of solo homers in the fifth, which was his final inning. He wound up throwing 67 pitches.
“Obviously, I didn't feel great during the game,” Hancock said. “It was kind of in certain spots. Yesterday, I really just wanted to give it a day, let the body recover, and just kind of see. And then today, I was like, 'I want to test it out and see how it feels.' And again, it just did not feel good having just a little bit of pain in that area.”
Hancock has a career-best 3.57 ERA over a career-high 138 2/3 innings in what’s been a breakout season. He might not be the Mariners' best starter, but he has been among their more consistent.
Miller, meanwhile, had just been moved to a bullpen role on Friday -- which the club announced just hours before Hancock took that tumble. That decision was primarily related to Miller’s struggles extending for nearly two months, and the fact that the Mariners called up No. 1 pitching prospect Kade Anderson the weekend prior.
Seattle preferred not sticking to a six-man rotation, which left Miller as the odd man out. He wasn’t thrilled about the decision, but had accepted it.
Over his past eight starts, all Mariners losses, Miller has carried a 7.19 ERA and opponents have an .893 OPS against him. When Miller starts on Wednesday, he’ll be doing so after nine days’ rest.