SEATTLE -- Mitch Garver returned to the Mariners lineup for Sunday Night Baseball against the Padres, after being held out the day prior due to back tightness.
But Brendan Donovan was sidelined for the second straight day, as he continues to work through load management from his recent IL stint. Mariners manager Dan Wilson said that Donovan could be available off the bench, depending on how he comes out of his pregame work.
Also, leverage reliever Matt Brash was slated to continue his rehab assignment at Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday. The club had considered activating him or having him make another outing with the Rainiers when returning from its recent road trip.
In Donovan’s stead, Leo Rivas took over at third base, making his 23rd start there through Seattle’s first 48 games.
That’s the exact same number of starts that Donovan has made at third base, the position that he transitioned to more full-time following the splashy trade to acquire him from the Cardinals just before Spring Training.
The Mariners knew that load management was going to be necessary for Donovan this season, after undergoing sports hernia surgery in October. And they knew that the 2025 All-Star would also need occasional rest days upon returning from the IL last Friday, after missing 17 games with a left groin muscle strain.
Donovan also dealt with hip soreness and right groin discomfort in April well before going on the IL, all of which he’s suggested have potentially been correlated to the sports hernia surgery he underwent in October.
“I’m still learning a lot about recovery and things I can do to keep my hips healthy after my surgery,” Donovan said last weekend.
“I think workload is one of those things, and pelvic positioning is another thing. That’s something that we have to attack in the weight room and in the training room every day.”
Donovan had two by-design days off over his first six days back, but he came off the bench in that second game in question to take Raleigh’s spot in the batting order, when the catcher aggravated his oblique and was forced to exit in the ninth inning.
Donovan is 6-for-28 (.214) since returning, with half of those hits coming in Thursday’s 8-3 win, when he finished a homer shy of the cycle. For the season, he’s slashing .274/.386/.452 (.838 OPS), a 14.9% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate in 101 plate appearances, good for 146 wRC+ (league average is 100).
Wilson said after Saturday’s loss that both Donovan and Garver were considered day to day.
As for Garver, he returns to the lineup for the first time since Thursday, when he crushed his first homer of the season and navigated Luis Castillo through a big rebound start in a series-clinching win in Houston.
Garver’s role is now more enhanced, as Seattle’s primary catcher, after the club placed Cal Raleigh on the injured list Thursday with a right oblique strain. He’ll be in a time share with Jhonny Pereda, who started the first two games of this series vs. San Diego.
Raleigh said in passing on Saturday that he’d received an injection for the issue, and is expected to transition his rehab to the club’s Spring Training facility in Arizona.
Garver’s back first tightened up on him when landing awkwardly on his right knee while attempting to corral a popout in foul territory late during Thursday’s win in Houston. But he also downplayed it at the time and remained in the game for two more innings, after a conferral with Mariners assistant athletic trainer Taylor Bennett.
At first, it looked like it was Garver’s right knee that was the issue, but he revealed postgame that the way he awkwardly landed on it actually caused more discomfort in his back.
“It wasn't my most graceful fall,” Garver joked at the time. “I just jammed up my back. It was nothing with my knee or anything. I just jammed up my back a little. It should be fine.”