ANAHEIM -- The Mariners' revolving door of pitchers turned again on Tuesday as general manager Jerry Dipoto recalled right-hander Cody Martin to the 25-man roster to start Wednesday's game against the Angels and placed southpaw starter James Paxton on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised left elbow.
Martin is 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA in five relief appearances with the Mariners this year, with five strikeouts and one walk in 10 innings. He's primarily been a starter with Triple-A Tacoma, where he's posted a 9-7 record and 3.93 ERA in 23 games, including 18 starts.
"I pretty much started all year in Tacoma and really the last five years of my career," said the 26-year-old out of Gonzaga University. "Getting starts in the big leagues is what I want to do and where I want my career to go, so this is a big opportunity for me to get that chance and take advantage of it."
Paxton was knocked out of his last start on Aug. 7 against the Angels by a line drive off his left elbow by Andrelton Simmons after he'd pitched 8 1/3 innings with just five hits and one unearned run. He's 4-5 with a 3.53 ERA in 13 starts with the Mariners this year and has been one of the team's top starters over the past few weeks with a 1.65 ERA in his last four outings.
Paxton's DL stint is retroactive to Aug. 8, so he'll be eligible to return next Tuesday, but manager Scott Servais indicated he might not slide back into the rotation until later in the week.
Paxton will throw a bullpen session in Anaheim on Wednesday and then either go out for a Minor League rehab appearance or throw a couple simulated innings against live hitters before rejoining the Mariners at some point in the middle to late next week.
"We have a lot of balls in the air right now, trying to juggle them and keep the rotation going," Servais said. "We want to make sure he's 100 percent. It's our decision, not his. He wants to pitch, but we want to do the smart thing."
Martin is already one of the Mariners' club-record 29 pitchers this year and he'll become the team's 13th starter when he takes the mound on Wednesday. Joe Wieland, who allowed six runs and nine hits in five innings in a 6-3 loss in a spot start Friday in Oakland, also remains on the roster and will be available in long relief.
Martin was the winning pitcher in the Mariners' 16-13 win in San Diego earlier this year when Seattle overcame a 12-2 deficit. He also threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in his last outing with the Mariners on Aug. 6 when Seattle came back from a 5-2 deficit to beat the Angels, 8-6.
"Those games are fun," Martin said. "The bullpen has been doing a great job, so there's been a lot of that the last few weeks. Coming back late in games and pulling it off, that's good stuff."
Now Martin will get a chance to make his third Major League start -- he started twice last year for the A's, including once against the Angels -- and this time it'll be for a team fighting for a playoff spot.
"It's exciting," he said. "We were in Memphis and we'd throw their game on in our clubhouse once we finished up and we all sat there and watched them to the end the last four nights. It's been really fun, just keeping track of the games and watching them creep back into the standings.
"They're playing really well and I just want to keep that going."