High-Leverage Seattle Mariners Reliever Exits Game Against Minnesota Twins

The Seattle Mariners checked off the final contest of an extremely successful six-game road trip Wednesday.

Against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, the Mariners won 5-3. The victory gave Seattle a 5-1 mark on its six game road trip, clinched a second-consecutive road series win and improved its overall record to 16-16.

Unfortunately for the Mariners, the win may have come at a cost.

Right-handed reliever Matt Brash, who entered the game in the eighth inning having not allowed a run all season. After two pitches, Seattle trainers and manager Dan Wilson came out to the mound to check on Brash, who was noticeably unfomfortable.

Brash was pulled after two innings and left-handed reliever Gabe Speier entered the game in his stead.

After the game, Wilson confirmed Brash was dealing with right side discomfort.

"I couldn’t really get my arm into the right spot that like I needed to," Brash said in a story written by Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times on Wednesday. " ... It felt really weird coming out of the game. I’d never done that before. I didn’t really want to, but I just felt like at that point, I couldn’t really compete to the best of my ability. I didn’t want to hurt the team or anything going out there with my 80% effort. It sucks. I feel bad and I put Gabe in a really tough spot there."

Brash said he had been bothered by discomfort in the past week, but Wednesday was the worst it had felt.

Brash will have further testing done by team doctors in Seattle when the team touches down back home on its off-day Thursday. The testing is likely to include imaging.