Originally published April 19, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified April 28, 2007 at 9:07 PM

Forearm strain to keep Felix out 10-20 days

The exhale heard this afternoon in Seattle was the sound of relief after 21-year-old starter Felix Hernandez was diagnosed with a strained muscle in his right forearm.

By Danny O'Neil

Seattle Times staff reporter

The exhale heard this afternoon in Seattle was the sound of relief after 21-year-old starter Felix Hernandez was diagnosed with a strained muscle in his right forearm.

"That's as good of news as you can expect from an elbow injury," said Edward Khalfayan, Mariners medical director.

Hernandez will miss at least one start and probably more. He won't throw at all for the next five days, but then will begin playing catch. Khalfayan said that a reasonable estimate is Hernandez will miss 10 to 20 days before pitching again.

Hernandez suffered a strained flexor-pronator muscle, which is a muscle in the forearm. It's a common injury for pitchers, Khalfayan said, and is similar to what closer J.J. Putz suffered during spring training.

Hernandez was removed from Wednesday's game after throwing 24 pitches. He experienced tightness in his right elbow, which intensified as he kept pitching. It was most pronounced when he threw his slider.

"It was very good of him and very smart of him to stop," Khalfayan said. "It would have been bad for him to continue to try to pitch through that."

Hernandez underwent a magnetic-resonance image (MRI) test on Wednesday night. Khalfayan met with Hernandez this afternoon before the Mariners' game against Minnesota. Khalfayan was given permission by Hernandez to discuss his condition.

Hernandez declined to talk about the injury before the game.

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