Gonzales ready to return, help in playoff race

SEATTLE -- Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales, who missed his last two starts with a strained cervical muscle in his neck, will come off the 10-day disabled list and start Tuesday against the Padres, manager Scott Servais said Friday.
Gonzales threw a 35-pitch session off the mound prior to Friday's series opener with the Yankees and said he's eager to finish the season strong after struggling his last few outings while dealing with the neck issue.
The 26-year-old was 12-5 with a 3.37 ERA in his first 21 starts before going 0-4 with a 10.35 ERA in four August outings. He acknowledges that getting some time off could provide a good reset for the final three weeks.
"I was dealing with some fatigue, some neck aches, some things I was battling through and trying to push through, hoping it would get better," he said. "So putting that aside, I think there's not going to be anything stopping me from returning to what I was doing before."
Servais said Gonzales will get three or four starts in the final weeks as the club goes with a six-man rotation now that all its starters are finally healthy at the same time.
His goal for Gonzales is simple.
"I want to see the same guy we saw in June and July," Servais said. "He was cruising. He does feel fine physically and is throwing all his pitches in the bullpen. He probably won't go as long. First time out, you're probably looking at 75 pitches or something like that. Again, we just want to see him healthy, executing pitches and feeling good about things."
Gonzales said sitting and watching his team try to hang in the playoff race has been frustrating and he'll bring an extra edge to his final outings.
"Those are obviously very important starts," he said. "The opponents are very important that we're going to be facing, so I won't take it lightly. I've been anxious and champing at the bit the past couple weeks as I've been waiting to get back out there."

Segura shakes off illness
Shortstop Jean Segura initially wasn't in Friday's lineup due to a morning fever and illness, but he was shifted back in after arriving at the park and informing Servais he was OK to play.
That moved Dee Gordon back to center field, where he's played five games since Robinson Canó returned from his 80-game suspension on Aug. 14.
Servais acknowledged there'd be "bumps in the road" when he began shifting players around to different positions upon Cano's return, but said it's too early to begin pondering how things might line up next season.
"It's nice to have flexibility," he said. "You see a number of teams do it that are very successful in the league. You have to have players that buy into it and feel good about doing it. If I had that kind of ability, I'd have loved to move around on the field. I was stuck behind the plate. I think it'd be fun, I really do.
"But everybody is wired a little differently and we'll see what cards we are dealt next year. I know what cards I have in front of me this year. I like the deck I'm playing with. We just need to be creative in what we're doing."
Worth noting
• First baseman Daniel Vogelbach, one of the September callups from Triple-A Tacoma, is dealing with a hamstring issue and isn't likely to play until that quiets down.
"He is available to pinch-hit, but we probably won't see him on the defensive side until we see him at 100 percent," Servais said. "He's not there yet."
• While Gonzales will start Tuesday against the Padres, Servais wasn't ready to finalize the rest of the rotation beyond that. If the group remains in turn, Wade LeBlanc would pitch Wednesday's series finale against San Diego and Mike Leake would start the first game of the road trip Thursday in Anaheim, but Servais said "we might bump guys around a little bit."