Hisashi Iwakuma’s rehab for a strained lat muscle has been shut down for at least 10-14 days after the Mariners right-hander felt soreness while playing catch over the weekend.
Iwakuma was supposed to miss 2-4 weeks when he was placed on the disabled list three weeks ago, but Greg Johns of MLB.com reports that he “isn’t anywhere close to returning” and “he’s likely looking at late June before he’d be ready to rejoin the Mariners at the earliest.”
In other words, any further delays and Iwakuma may end up missing the remainder of the first half. He also got off to a rough start before going on the DL, allowing 13 runs in 16.2 innings following a three-year run in which he went 38-20 with a 3.07 ERA and 440/106 K/BB ratio in 524 innings for the Mariners.
Left-hander Roenis Elias will continue to fill in for Iwakuma.