SEATTLE -- The Mariners’ bullpen returned a key reinforcement before Wednesday’s series finale vs. the White Sox, as setup man Matt Brash was activated from the 15-day injured list.
And fellow leverage reliever Gabe Speier might not be far behind him, as he began a rehab assignment Wednesday night with High-A Everett.
In a corresponding move, lefty Robinson Ortiz was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.
Brash certainly looked good to go in his first appearance back on the hill, earning the win with a clean seventh inning in the Mariners' 5-4 win over Chicago. The right-hander struck out the first two batters he faced before giving up an infield single on a comebacker that tipped off his glove on its way up the middle. That prompted a quick visit from the training staff, but Brash stayed in the game and needed just two more pitches to get out of the frame.
All three of his pitches had higher velocities than his pre-injury average, and between his slider and his changeup he forced whiffs on five of the seven swings against his secondary pitches.
Brash, who was recovering from right lat inflammation, made two rehab appearances at Tacoma. The injury first surfaced a few days before he was forced to exit an April 29 outing at Minnesota. For the season, he’s given up zero earned runs over 15 outings -- he's the only pitcher in the AL with a 0.00 ERA in at least 10 appearances -- and with the win, the Mariners are now 13-2 in games he's pitched.
His return could be a huge boost to a Mariners bullpen that has both had a lot of moving parts of late and relied even more than usual on a select few workhorses.
José A. Ferrer shares the league lead with 25 appearances out of the bullpen in Seattle's first 51 games. Eduard Bazardo is right behind him with 24. Both of them threw Wednesday, with Bazardo handling the eighth and Ferrer giving up a leadoff home run in the ninth but striking out the side in the ninth to earn his third save.
In the three weeks both Brash and Speier were out, the duo of Ferrer and Bazardo had simultaneously been Dan Wilson's top high-leverage options, his set-up men, his fill-in closers when Andrés Muñoz was unavailable (as he was Wednesday after throwing in the first two games of the series) and -- in Ferrer's case -- his go-to for left-handed matchups. With Brash back in the mix, the workload can be spread out more evenly, even if he doesn't immediately slot full-time into the eighth-inning role he held nearly all of 2025.
Speier's return to the mound was much more up and down; the lefty gave up a home run on his first pitch of the game, then gave up a single and a two-run homer before retiring the next three batters, with two strikeouts. He ended up throwing 15 pitches (11 strikes).
Ortiz -- Seattle's No. 23 prospect per MLB Pipeline -- was recalled on Monday but did not make an appearance.