Seattle Mariners send Matt Brash for new MRI as recovery from lat strain stalls

SEATTLE - Seattle Mariners reliever Matt Brash was sent to have a new MRI as he's been unable to make further progress in his return from a right lat strain, general manager Justin Hollander said on Thursday.

Brash had a bullpen session during the team's road trip in Boston and felt tightness after the outing, which led to a desire to seek another scan.

"The bullpen itself went very well," Hollander said. "After the bullpen, he felt some tightness in his lat again. This has sort of been a recurring theme with this specific injury. Mostly he feels good when he's throwing on flat ground and even in the (bullpens). It has continued to tighten up on him as he finishes the bullpen and gets into the recovery phase. I don't really know what it means. We'll see what the MRI says."

While the Mariners await the results of the MRI, it doesn't appear to be a "setback" for Brash as much as just non-progression.

The backstory:

Brash has been on the injured list since June 9 and has missed 73 games with the injury. It's his second time on the injured list this season with a lat muscle issue, as he previously missed 18 games from May 1–19.

Brash made six appearances for Seattle between IL stints, throwing 5 ⅓ innings with one run allowed on five hits, four walks and seven strikeouts. For the season, Brash  has appeared in 20 games, allowing a 0.54 ERA with six walks and 15 strikeouts in 16 ⅔ innings pitched.

Hollander said Brash has been able to get back to feeling good enough to throw again, but the discomfort returns after throwing.

"He has bounced back reasonably, not as much as we would have hoped," Hollander said. "Which is why we've sort of been in the same holding pattern where he's throwing bullpens, but hasn't progressed to live (bullpens) or game action, because this has been a pattern over the last 10 days, two weeks, where he feels really good in between, he feels really good throwing on flat, he feels fine in the bullpen, then after the fact it starts to tighten up a little bit. And until we can get through that, there's just no reason to push him out there and cause more injury or have a recurrence of the same injury."

Hollander acknowledged they are running out of time to get him back this season.

Dig deeper:

– Victor Robles was placed on the family medical emergency leave list and is headed home to the Dominican Republic. Hollander wouldn't get into specifics about the reason why Robles had to leave, but did pass on best wishes to Robles and his family.

"Every indication is that everybody will be okay," Hollander said. "Victor is in the right place headed to the D.R. right now and our thoughts are with Victor and his family. Everybody knows what a great human Victor is, how much he means to our team, our organization, and just wishing Victor and his family the best."

The Mariners recalled outfielder Brennan Davis to put him on the 60-day injured list, which opened a roster spot for the team to add outfielder Stuart Fairchild from Triple-A Tacoma for additional depth.

"He's had a setback with his oblique," Hollander said of Davis. "Obviously, he was recovering from a hamstring injury. Tweaked his oblique in the (batting) cages. He'll be out for the rest of the year. …  Between the oblique and the hamstring, he'll miss the rest of the season."

– Brendan Donovan is still recovering from a concussion sustained from getting hit in the head with a baseball in the batting cages during the team's last homestand. Hollander said Donovan is making progress, but it's been slow.

"I would say he is making progress. It's just incremental slower progress right now," he said. "We've talked a lot about concussions and how they can be tricky. Until he's able to check the box of (a) full pregame, there's nothing to do other than just keep repeating the pregame every day. Hopefully, we get there sooner rather than later. There's nothing really to do other than just keep testing it every day, though. I know he wants to be out there."

Donovan could need a short rehab assignment before being activated when he's cleared his hurdles in his recovery.

– Reliever Nick Davila will miss the rest of the year and is also having an MRI to take a look at an injury to his upper chest area.

"He has a first rib injury. It's almost near his clavicle," Hollander said. "It's either a sprain or a stress reaction in that area. The MRI will determine how long he's out, but regardless, he's going to be down two to four weeks, so he'll miss the rest of the season."

– Starting pitcher Emerson Hancock will throw on Sunday to see where he's at after injuring his adductor muscle making a play on a ground ball in Toronto last week. Hancock was placed on the 15-day injured list after the game. 

"Not positive whether it'll be off a mound or flat ground like it was in Toronto," Hollander said. "Depending on how that goes on Sunday, we'll determine where we are at in his progression. So we'll know a lot more after Sunday."

– Minor league shortstop Felnin Celestin will likely miss the rest of the season due to a minor groin injury. Hollander said there's just not enough time left in the minor league season to get back before the end of the year.

"He had an absolutely phenomenal season," Hollander said. "And I know he really wanted to get through a whole season, play almost every day and sort of have that be a goal that he succeeded in this year. Unfortunately, there's just no sense in pushing it and making sure that he doesn't do something that affects his off season and the work he needs to put in.":

– Reliever Cole Wilcox will throw from a mound this weekend as he works back from a left oblique strain. Wilcox has been on the injured list since August 7. Hollander said the hope is he can get a few rehab appearances in with Triple-A Tacoma before being available for the team before the end of the year.

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