By Alec Dietz
The News Tribune
A month ago, Brandon Brennan’s season took a detour. He hopes after some time in Tacoma, he can get back on track and return to the major leagues.
Before straining his right shoulder and being placed on the injured list on June 14, the rookie reliever had made quite a splash with the Seattle Mariners. Brennan has spent time rehabbing the injury, and was expected to pitch for the Rainiers against Las Vegas on Monday at Cheney Stadium as the next step in his recovery.
Brennan pitched an inning recently for the Mariners’ Arizona summer league team, striking out three and giving up one hit while throwing 17 pitches. Triple-A hitters are next before returning to Mariners, who could use his arm in the bullpen.
Brennan, who had gone 2-6 with a 5.56 ERA for the Mariners in 30 games before going on the IL, had no issues with his first performance back.
“It was good, it just felt good to be back on the mound,” Brennan said Monday. “That’s all I really took out of it, I wanted to feel good after, and I did, so it was good for me.
“It hasn’t been difficult, it’s just been different. Going from being in the bullpen every day, potentially going to throw to sitting on the side and doing some random shoulder stuff from time-to-time is different.”
Brennan said he hopes to get back in Seattle as soon as he can, to continue a season that he had felt good about before his injury.
“Until the last week of the season I’d had a pretty damn good season,” Brennan said. “I tried to throw through what I had going through my arm, and my arm said no. Those teams pick up on your mistakes or when you’re not feeling your best, but overall, my season as is has been pretty good.”
Pitchers on the move
Aside from Brennan, the Mariners made a slew of moves involving pitchers before the Rainiers matchup with the Aviators. Perhaps the most important was right-hander Sam Tuivailala getting activated to the Mariners from the 60-day IL.
Tuivailala had pitched a solid performance in his first game with the Rainiers on Friday, giving up just one hit and striking out two in one inning . Saturday’s performance wasn’t as clean, as the reliever allowed two hits and one earned run in less than an inning.
Additionally, right-handers Parker Markel and David McKay were optioned to the Rainiers by Seattle. Markel is active for Monday’s game against Las Vegas, along with 24-year-old Nabil Crismatt, who was transferred from Double-A Arkansas. Crismatt is fresh off a complete game shutout performance for the Travelers. The right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out 14 in a dominating performance.
