Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush faces minor setback

NEW YORK – For now, it appears to be only a minor setback that Seattle Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush is no longer scheduled to test his recovery from biceps tendinitis by pitching a simulated inning this week in Detroit.

It bears watching, though.

“He felt a little bit of a discomfort,” manager Lloyd McClendon said prior to Saturday’s game at Yankee Stadium. “So they backed him off from his throwing for a couple of days.”

The adjustment in Furbush’s recovery schedule is believed to be minor.

Trainer Rick Griffin said Furbush is making the anticipated progress in his recovery.

Even so, McClendon termed it “an educated guess” that Furbush won’t return Thursday in Detroit as previously anticipated.

It’s not impossible, though.

McClendon conceded Furbush, who is not with the club, could still throw his simulated inning at Triple-A Tacoma or the short-season A Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League.

Furbush experienced soreness in his biceps the day after his July 7 appearance against Detroit. An examination identified the problem as tendinitis.

“We’ll deal with it and move forward,” he said at the time. “I’m not too concerned.”

Furbush’s injury deprives the Mariners of their top left-handed reliever. He was 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 33 appearances and had stranded all 16 inherited runners.

McClendon acknowledged he would have called on Furbush in the seventh inning Friday in a 3-3 game against the Yankees. Instead, the Mariners turned to Joe Beimel, who yielded a homer to Alex Rodriguez.

That homer lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 victory.

“Yes, that’s (Furbush’s) spot,” McClendon said. “Having said that, Beimel’s still had plenty of success against A-Rod. That was not an issue. I felt very comfortable with him in the game at that spot.

“He just made a mistake.”