Shawn O'Malley hopes this stay is as brief as the last one.
In his first game of a rehabilitation assignment for the Seattle Mariners with the Arkansas Travelers, O'Malley played second base and batted leadoff in Arkansas' 4-3 victory over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Dickey-Stephens Park on Monday night.
"I'm hoping it's just get here, get my at-bats, stay healthy and continue my rehab wherever they send me next," said O'Malley, who had arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in May.
This is O'Malley's second time through North Little Rock. He played a total of 11 games for the Travs in 2014 -- when the team was in its 14th of 16 seasons with the Los Angeles Angels -- before he was promoted to the Angels' Class AAA affiliate in Salt Lake City.
O'Malley said his brief stay three years ago prepared him for the essentials.
"I knew where to park, and I still knew how to walk into the clubhouse," said O'Malley, who went 0 for 3 on Monday. "Besides that, everything still looked the same. The field still looks great. It's kind of fun to be back."
O'Malley said he wasn't certain how long his current stint with the Travs would last. Travs Manager Daren Brown said matters of this sort are difficult to predict.
"Any rehab, at some point you have to re-evaluate where they're at," he said. "He felt good tonight, and that's the most important thing."
After spending 11 games in Los Angeles in 2014, O'Malley was released by the Angels. He was picked up by the Mariners in January 2015, then played 24 games for Seattle that season and 89 in 2016. He was a candidate for Seattle's opening day roster this season before he underwent an emergency appendectomy late in spring training. O'Malley is also attempting to work through the remnants of a shoulder injury.
Arkansas' left-handed starter Anthony Misiewicz ran his stretch of quality starts to five with his best so far. Through 8 innings, he gave up 4 hits, walked 1 and struck out 7. Since the Texas League All-Star break, Misiewicz has allowed just 29 base runners in 32 innings.
"He's throwing the ball well," Brown said. "Tonight's probably the best we've seen him. Guys really had a tough time getting on him."
The Travs scored two runs in the fourth inning on right fielder Kyle Waldrop's RBI single and first baseman Ryan Casteel's groundball fielder's choice that scored third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean.
Waldrop added a home run, his 10th of the season, to give Arkansas a 3-0 lead in the seventh inning. Mejias-Brean's single in the eighth knocked in center fielder Braden Bishop from second to give the Travs what they needed to hold on.
Naturals designated hitter Mauricio Ramos' two-out, three-run home run in the ninth inning off right-handed reliever Tyler Knigge completed the scoring. Right-hander Ryan Kelly came on after the home run and allowed a single to Anderson Miller before striking out Humberto Arteaga for the save.
Sports on 07/25/2017