Seattle Mariners promote former Dos Palos star Cody Martin

Joel Peralta’s ongoing struggles finally proved too much for the Mariners, who designated him for assignment prior to Thursday’s series finale against the San Diego Padres.

The Mariners replaced Peralta in their bullpen by recalling right-hander Cody Martin from Triple-A Tacoma. Martin, 26, was in uniform – No. 57 – for the game at Petco Park.

“I got a phone call pretty late (Wednesday) night after the ballgame ended,” said Martin, who graduated from Dos Palos in 2007. “They just told me to be ready to pitch ‘whenever.’ I’ve kind of been throwing out of the bullpen. So I’m ready for anything at any time.”

Peralta, 40, registered 11 “holds” in his first 17 outings, but he gave up 10 runs and 16 hits over his last nine innings – which spiked his ERA from 2.51 to 5.40. He also gave up five homers in that span.

“We rode him hard,” manager Scott Servais said, “and, obviously, the results haven’t been there in the last month ... Organizationally, we just felt it was time to make a change there.”

Servais said breaking the news to Peralta made for a “rough” day.

“A first-time manager, you go into spring training,” Servais said, “you’re trying to get the ball rolling on a number of different things, and Joel was at the forefront, one of the leaders and a big proponent of what I was trying to put into place.”

Martin was 5-3 with a 5.67 ERA in 12 games at Tacoma. He opened the season by making seven starts before shifting to the bullpen. He had a 2.78 ERA in his last seven appearances.

“I don’t think the numbers tell the whole story,” said Martin, who will replace Steve Johnson as the Mariners’ long reliever. “My first month was good to begin, tough in the middle and finished strong. And I had a good month of May.

“I’ve kind of figured some stuff out, figured out what I want to do on the mound, and it’s been going well.”

Martin pitched one scoreless inning Thursday and got the victory when the Mariners erased a 10-run deficit in beating the Padres 16-13.

“I thought, maybe, if I can have a clean inning,” Martin said, “I can get the guys going. That’s what happened. Guys were just hot. That’s a pretty amazing way to do it.”

Martin was a seventh-round pick by Atlanta in 2011. He reached the majors last season and made 21 appearances for the Braves before a July 2 trade sent him to Oakland. He finished a combined 2-3 with a 7.92 ERA in 25 games.

The Mariners acquired Martin from the Athletics in an Oct. 19, 2015 waiver claim.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Seattle Mariners promote former Dos Palos star Cody Martin."