Shortstop Michael Young, who has never been on the disabled list in his career, left Monday's game with a fractured right ring finger.
For now, the Rangers believe Young, who played with a fracture in his left ring finger earlier in the year, can dodge the DL. Preliminary indications are that he will miss 5-7 days. Young suffered the injury diving back into first base in the first inning. He left two innings later. He was replaced at shortstop by Ramon Vazquez, who would likely be the fill-in while he is out.
The Rangers' other option would be to promote infielder Joaquin Arias from Triple-A Oklahoma. Arias has slowly moved back into playing shortstop this season after shoulder injuries short-circuited his 2007 season. Infielder German Duran, who would be another option, was recently lost for at least six weeks because of a torn ligament in his thumb.
Young's injury forced the Rangers to do a lot of shuffling. Vazquez was already in the game for third baseman Hank Blalock, who was scratched with an upset stomach. When Vazquez went to short, first baseman Chris Davis had to move to third. Davis played third in the minors last season.
MARINERS 7, RANGERS 5: Rangers pitchers allowed four homers Monday, including two to Adrian Beltre. Beltre's second homer in the eighth inning broke a 5-5 tie. It came off RHP Frank Francisco, who had allowed just two runs over his previous 15 innings. Francisco had been holding hitters to a .151 batting average in that span. Beltre had hit a three-run homer off RHP Scott Feldman in the first inning to give Seattle an early lead. Though Texas tied the score twice, the Rangers never led.
