Zych sent to 10-day DL; Altavilla called up

ATLANTA -- The Mariners, who have been hit with several injuries to their pitching staff this year, placed reliever Tony Zych on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with a strain to his right elbow flexor bundle.
Zych joins a growing list of key pitchers on the Mariners' DL. They are already without starters Félix Hernández, James Paxton and Hisashi Iwakuma and reliever David Phelps.
Seattle manager Scott Servais hopes Zych's injury isn't long term. The Mariners recalled Dan Altavilla from Triple-A Tacoma to take Zych's spot in the bullpen.
"His stuff hasn't been coming out as crisp lately, and we saw some command issues a couple outings ago," Servais said. "It is probably the best thing to give him 10 days to let it calm down and come back from there."
Zych has a 2.66 ERA in 45 games this season, allowing 12 earned runs in 40 2/3 innings. This will be his second time on the DL. The 27-year-old right-hander missed 10 games in early April recovering from offseason surgery (right shoulder biceps tendon transfer).

Altavilla, a 24-year-old right-hander, had a 1.61 ERA and six saves in 19 games with Tacoma. He could be joined by Phelps in the bullpen within days. Phelps threw a solid bullpen session Tuesday, and it is possible he will be activated soon.
"It went fantastic, just like yesterday, and we will see where we are at," Phelps said.
Worth noting
• Iwakuma pitched a bullpen session Monday, and the results were positive. Servais said everything went well and that Iwakuma will probably throw another bullpen session later in the week.
• Hernandez and Paxton have resumed pitching activities. They are both scheduled to play catch before ramping up the rehab process.