Mariners Notebook: Putz was ticked on Friday, not injured

SEATTLE – J.J. Putz wasn’t hurt in the ninth inning Friday night when his pitching coach and trainer sprinted to the mound to check on him. He was ticked.

“I’d thrown a couple of poor pitches and kind of hopped off the mound because I was mad, and I guess they thought I was hurt,” Putz said.

Putz was rubbing up the baseball and walking back to the mound when umpire Lance Barksdale got his attention.

“The trainer is coming out,” Barksdale told him.

“Huh? Why?” Putz asked him.

When pitching coach Rafael Chavez and trainer Rick Griffin reached the mound, they started asking questions.

“You all right?”

“Yeah,” Putz told them.

Then third baseman Adrian Beltre stepped in.

“He says he’s OK,” Beltre said. “It’s getting cold, so let’s go.”

They left him in and Putz got the next three outs, including a game-ending double play.

Manager Mike Hargrove had feared Putz was hurt because his velocity to the first two hitters in the inning reached only 94 mph instead of his usual 97. There was a good reason.

Putz, who got the final two outs in the top of the eighth inning, sat through a long bottom of the eighth when the Mariners scored two runs and sent seven hitters to the plate.

“I couldn’t get loose,” Putz said. “I was sitting around a long time in the eighth and tried to hustle out to the mound before the ninth and get in a few extra warmup pitches.”

Barksdale wouldn’t allow it, and Putz struggled against the first two hitters. After convincing everyone he was OK, he dusted off the next two hitters, throwing 97 and 98 mph and finishing the game impressively.

Notes

Felix Hernandez, on the disabled list with a strained right forearm, will pitch off the bullpen mound today and, if that goes well, will remain on target to start Saturday in New York. Hernandez threw in the bullpen Friday for the first time since he left in the first inning on April 18 against the Twins. … Pitching matchups for the two-game series against the White Sox are Jarrod Washburn vs. Javier Vazquez on Tuesday and Miguel Batista vs. John Danks on Wednesday. … Wednesday’s game will start at 12:35 p.m. because the Mariners will play a makeup game at Boston on Thursday, which was to be an off day.