Mariners trying to bridge gap with 6-man ‘pen

CHICAGO — The chance to get Kyle Seager back in the lineup this weekend looms as a double-bonus for the Mariners, who not only need their standout third baseman on the field, but will also be able to add another reliever for a thin bullpen at that time.

With Seager sidelined for a third straight day on Friday, the Mariners continued carrying utility man Mike Freeman in order to have a backup option for Shawn O’Malley, who has been starting in Seager’s place. But Freeman’s addition means running a man short in the bullpen and that six-man group was taxed again in a 7-6 loss to the White Sox on Thursday when starter James Paxton lasted only five innings and four relievers were called on to finish out the game.

“Interesting,” was manager Scott Servais’ description of the relief situation going into Friday’s rematch. “We are a guy short, obviously, and tried to get through with a bunch of guys last night.”

It hasn’t helped that workhorse Tom Wilhelmsen had a sore back that made him unavailable for three straight days until he worked a scoreless sixth inning on Thursday.

Additionally, hard-throwing Arquimedes Caminero has looked less dominating over the past 10 days, allowing 10 hits and seven runs (four earned) in 5 1/3 innings in six games after giving up no runs on three hits over six frames in his first five appearances following his acquisition from the Pirates.

Caminero hasn’t had the same command in his recent outings and opposing hitters have been better able to time up his upper-90s …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com