The left shoulder that third baseman Adrian Beltre had surgery on last September is giving him trouble again.

Manager Don Wakamatsu noticed that Beltre’s left hand came off the bat during one of his at-bats during Tuesday night’s game against the Padres and removed his third-sacker for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning.

The Mariners were trailing 9-4 at the time and eventually lost the game, 9-7.

Beltre was back in the lineup tonight despite bone spurs in his shoulder. The problem appears similar to what he went through last season, although it was his left thumb that caused him more discomfort than the shoulder.

Both were surgically repaired on the same day by two different doctors.

Removing bone spurs is no guarantee that they won’t return and that’s what happened in this case.

Beltre’s playing time going forward probably depends on how much pain he can take and he has proven to be able to play with a lot of pain.

That pain was evident in the fourth inning when Beltre lunged to his right to backhand a line drive hit by Padres left fielder Scott Hairston.

Beltre, a two-time Gold Glove winner with the Mariners, caught the ball but winced as he did it.

Fingers are crossed that Beltre won’t need surgery any time soon, but their chances of catching and passing either the Angels and/or Rangers would be enhanced with a healthy Beltre.

Right-hander Brandon Morrow’s work is finished for the night.

He held the Padres to six hits and three runs, walking one and striking out four over five innings and 87 pitches. He could have thrown up to 95 pitches, but Wakamatsu and pitching coach Rick Adair were more than satisfied with five innings. 

It was an improvement over this first two outings as a starter, though the run he surrendered in the fifth inning erased the one-run lead Russell Branyan provided with a towering three-run home run to straightaway center field in the second inning.

— Jim Street