Jorge Polanco out on paternity leave for Mariners

SEATTLE, WA -MARCH 27: Jorge Polanco #7 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates with Rowdy Tellez #23, left, and Luke Raley #20 after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning against the Athletics on Opening Day at T-Mobile Park on March 27, 20 (Stephen Brashear / Getty Images)

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SEATTLE - An offense that remains slow to launch for the Seattle Mariners will be without its hottest hitter for at least Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Tigers.

Third baseman Jorge Polanco has been placed on the paternity list as his wife is having a baby.

"Thoughts and prayers are with him," manager Dan Wilson said. "So that's where we're at with that and really hope everything goes smoothly for the Polanco family."

Polanco has six hits in his first 15 at-bats of the season for a .400 average with a home run and 4 RBI. He can miss up to three games on the paternity list, per MLB rules.

Wilson said Leo Rivas is coming up from Triple-A Tacoma to give the team a full bench for Tuesday night's game. Miles Mastrobuoni is making his first start of the season in place of Polanco at third base.

Hancock optioned to Triple-A:

After Monday night's disastrous season debut, starting pitcher Emerson Hancock was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Hancock allowed six runs on seven hits with a walk while retiring only one batter at the plate in ⅔ innings pitched before exiting. The second out came via a caught stealing.

"It's tough to lose Emerson, obviously, a guy that had a great spring and built a lot of confidence," Wilson said. "But you know, he's going to go down and continue that same path."

The bullpen combined for 8 ⅓ innings of work in the 9-4 loss to Detroit. Tayler Saucedo, Collin Snider, Carlos Vargas and Eduard Bazardo combined to close out the game. Vargas was the standout, going 3 ⅔ innings to keep the bullpen from getting more depleted.

The Mariners added left-handed pitcher Jhonathan Diaz from Triple-A Tacoma in place of Hancock to give them extra bullpen depth.

"We really needed to add a piece tonight to the bullpen," Wilson said. "And so that's what made the most sense at the time and so we got Jhonathan here, give us some length in that bullpen tonight."

The Source: Original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.