Mariners star catcher Cal Raleigh had hunch right oblique injury would cause IL stint

SEATTLE (AP) — When Cal Raleigh left the Seattle Mariners’ 4-3 loss to the Houston Astros in the eighth inning after aggravating an injury to his right side, he had a hunch an injured list stint was in store.

Raleigh was placed on the 10-day IL with a right oblique strain on Thursday, the first IL stint in six major league seasons for last year’s AL MVP runner-up.

“It’s tough because it’s one of those things where I thought I could play through it,” Raleigh said Friiday ahead of his team’s series against San Diego. “I thought I could tough it out, and ultimately, what’s best for the team is me putting my pride aside and taking a few days.”

Raleigh admitted to playing through some pain the last few weeks after missing three games from May 2-4 with soreness on his right side. Including three games from April 28 to May 1, Raleigh went 0 for 38, the longest hitless streak in the majors this season, until breaking out on May 12 with two singles in a 10-2 rout of Houston.

In 41 games this season, Raleigh is hitting .161 with seven home runs, 18 RBI, four doubles, 18 walks and 16 runs. His .161 batting average is lowest in the majors among 170 qualified batters.

While Raleigh has played through other injuries in his career, including a broken bone and torn ligament in his left thumb in the 2022 season, it became clear to both him and the Mariners that his play was not benefitting the team.

“It’s hard to give it time to rest, time to recover if every single play, you’re twisting and turning and flexing,” Raleigh said of his oblique. “So, it’s one of those kinds of specific sports injuries to baseball.”

To alleviate Raleigh’s pain, the Mariners training staff intends on giving him a shot of some kind in the next 24 hours. Raleigh, who said he has never previously dealt with an oblique issue, will hang in the Seattle area for a day or two, and then likely will rehab at the team’s spring training complex in Arizona.

General manager Justin Hollander said MRIs were similar or slightly improved from ones from May 4, which he said is an encouraging sign.

“Obviously, he didn’t make it worse,” Hollander said. “Hopefully, we can get the lingering soreness out of there, and then he can resume baseball activities, but we’ll go week to week with it. Right now, we don’t anticipate this being a long, long time, or anything like that. But we want to make sure that when he gets into a game, he’s doing it with full confidence and pain-free.”

Sticking with 6-man rotation

Manager Dan Wilson said the Mariners will stick with a six-man rotation. But, not every pitcher will start every sixth day. Wilson said that right-handers Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller will pitch on the same day, and that it is not yet clear who will start and who will enter the game next to cover more innings than a typical relief pitcher would.

Right-handers George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo and Emerson Hancock are all expected to start the same amount of games as they would in a prototypical starting rotation.

Miller started the year on the injured list with a left oblique injury, and made his season debut on Wednesday. Miller allowed two runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. Castillo, meanwhile, has struggled this year. He is 1-4 with a 6.34 ERA in nine starts.

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