Cano out few games with abdominal strain

SEATTLE -- Robinson Cano has a Grade 1 abdominal strain and will miss a few games and will be relegated to designated hitter duty upon his immediate return, but the Mariners don't expect it to warrant a disabled list stay.

"He'll get a couple days off, maybe DH after that, and probably five or six days later he should be able to resume playing [second base]," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said after Wednesday afternoon's 8-2 loss to Arizona.

Cano suffered the strain while fielding his position in Monday's series opener and played Tuesday after discussing the matter with McClendon during batting practice that day. But the team did not want to take any chances and sat him Wednesday and opted for a magnetic resonance imaging exam.

"He was trying to make a play a couple of days ago and he felt it," McClendon said. "It's gotten a little worse."

The club is still planning to have Cano make the upcoming road trip to Minnesota and Colorado with the team.

"Robbie's stubborn," McClendon said before Wednesday's game. "His pain tolerance is so high that he actually wanted to play again today, but the doctors said, 'We need to get this looked at and make sure that there's nothing going on.' So if this was the seventh game of the World Series, Robbie would play and would want to. But this is the right thing to do."

Worth noting

• Reliever Charlie Furbush was excited to learn that he will make the trip with the team as he continues to progress with bullpen sessions. Furbush has been out since July 9 with left biceps tendinitis. McClendon said Furbush will likely throw another bullpen on the trip with hopes of pitching "an inning or two" for Triple-A Tacoma on Aug. 6 or 7.