Seattle — It had to feel like an eternity. Shoot, it had to feel like the day might never come.
It had been 368 days between Beau Brieske’s last big-league pitch last season and his first pitch this season. For a talented 25-year-old who defied the odds as a 27th-round draft pick out of a Division II school and fought his way to the big leagues, the wait and the attending uncertainty had to be excruciating.
That’s why his four-out performance Saturday night against the Mariners felt so rewarding.
“It was just really exciting to get back,” he said. “Just knowing everything I had to do leading up to that.”
Brieske, who made 15 starts last season before being shut down with a nerve issue in his right arm, entered the game in the seventh inning after Michael Lorenzen ended his two-hit, 6.2-inning outing with a pair of walks.
He promptly struck out left-handed hitting Mike Ford, setting him up with 97-mph four-seamers and then punching him out with a fading changeup. He came back out for the eighth and after giving up a leadoff double, he rolled through the top of the Mariners’ batting order:
J.P. Crawford, infield pop-up. Julio Rodriguez, strikeout swinging at a wicked 96-mph two-seam fastball that darted in at his knees. Ty France, three-pitch punch-out — sinker in, sinker in, 97-mph four-seamer up and away.
Nasty.
“That was very cool to be able to go out there and clean up that inning for Michael and make sure he got out with a zero after pitching a great game,” Brieske said. “I think it was important for me not to focus on the situation and just focus on getting that guy out.”
Brieske had some big moments as a starting pitcher last season. He started and pitched well in some of the game’s most hallowed cathedrals — Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park. He threw quality starts in his final three outings before his arm started barking.
Still, it was clear coming into spring training that his best path to the big-league roster would be as a bridge reliever. And that’s the role he’s going to remain in, at least for the rest of this season.
“Long-term, all options are still open,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I think he can be an effective starting pitcher and he can certainly be a bridge reliever. His stuff is dynamic and it ticks up like a lot of guys’ do in the bullpen.
“We don’t need to focus on that for a few months. But it’s nice to have him back in the fold.”
Brieske seems very much at peace with this bullpen role.
“It is different but it is something I enjoy,” he said. “You can be super aggressive. I think you should pitch aggressive all the time anyway. You can pitch to your strengths when you don’t have to face a lineup three times through. That’s the difference.
“You don’t have to worry about holding one of your cards or not use one of your weapons. You can just let it all out.”
Seriously, though, after what he went through the last 12 months, he would have accepted any role he was offered.
“There were certainly some points where I was asking myself, like, when will I ever be able to do this at the level I know I can?” Brieske said. “When am I ever going to feel like myself again? You’re doing every single thing you can do, you’re seeing different people, everyone is trying to help as much as they can.
“There was just something about it that was tricky and we weren’t able to move the needle on it. There was a point where I was like, man, I don’t know what I’m going to end up doing.”
It took a long time to figure out what the problem was, why the pain kept travelling up and down his arm. Finally the nerve issue was discovered and he was able to start treating it. He thought he was ready to go this spring. But he found out quickly the pain was still very much present.
“I never really gave up and I think that was important,” Brieske said. “It was like one single day. One day it didn’t hurt a lot to throw and I was like, all right, one down now lets retrace my steps and try to replicate this.
“One day I felt good and I just kept trying to build on it.”Then came the prolonged rehab. The Tigers weren’t going to take any chances so they put him through a rigorous 30-day rehab, putting him in every possible situation a reliever would face. Finally, he got the call.
“Our idea was to take whatever we could and get him here as soon as possible rather than run the road of building him back up as a starter,” Hinch said. “That got him back to contributing at this level and last night reminded you that he can be a very dynamic pitcher.”
On deck: Kansas City Royals
▶ Series: Four games at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
▶ First pitch: Monday-Wednesday — 8:10 p.m.; Thursday — 2:10 p.m.
▶ TV/radio: All four games on Bally Sports Detroit/97.1 FM
▶ Probables: Monday — Matt Manning (3-1, 3.72) vs. RHP Jordan Lyles (1-11, 6.42); Tuesday — LHP Tarik Skubal (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Daniel Lynch (2-4, 4,18); Wednesday — LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5, 2.70) vs. RHP Ryan Yarbrough (2-4, 5.29); Thursday — RHP Michael Lorenzen (4-6, 3.75) vs. TBA.
Scouting report
▶ Manning, Tigers: He teamed up with Jason Foley and Alex Lange to pitch the first combined no-hitter in Tigers’ history in his last outing, which was nearly two weeks ago. He was dealing with some discomfort in his side and he had a battery of tests. But he checked out healthy and he said he felt no issues during his bullpen on Friday.
▶ Lyles, Royals: His record is a mess, but he’s pitched much more competitively lately. He had a quality start against the Tigers on June 19, allowing three runs in six innings. In his last start, he limited the Guardians to a run in six innings.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky