Mariners activate Beltre from DL

SEATTLE (AP)—Gold Glove third baseman Adrian Beltre(notes) is back playing with the Seattle Mariners after taking a hard groundball to the groin three weeks ago.

And, yes, he is wearing a protective cup. For the first time in his career.

The Mariners activated Beltre from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. He started hours later against the Los Angeles Angels.

Beltre said a checkup with a specialist earlier in the day found he still has a tear in his testicle, the result of a wicked one-hopper off the bat of Chicago’s Alexei Ramirez(notes) on Aug. 12. Swelling from a severe contusion is still there, too.

“There’s still pain, but it’s not getting worse,” Beltre said, adding that running is the most uncomfortable part of playing right now.

When asked if he would wear a cup now, he said, “I don’t have to answer that question.”

His manager did for him.

“Adrian, he will wear a cup today,” Don Wakamatsu said, pre-empting the question he was sure to get before the game.

Is he wearing one voluntarily?

“Uh, no,” Wakamatsu said.

Seattle also recalled first baseman Mike Carp(notes) and left-handed pitcher Jason Vargas(notes) from Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday. Carp was batting sixth on Tuesday and playing first base, because Russell Branyan(notes) is out for perhaps the remainder of the season with a herniated disk.

The Mariners also had recently injured star Ichiro Suzuki(notes) back in the lineup for the first time in nine games.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Beltre’s injury was it happened in the ninth inning yet he stayed in the game. He singled and even sprinted home with the winning run in the 14th inning.

How did do that through searing pain in an unfortunate location?

“That’s a good question. I don’t know,” the 30-year-old said with a smile Tuesday. “It’s true that adrenaline is a powerful thing.”

Beltre, whose $64 million, five-year contract ends in a month, does not wear a protective cup because he says it’s uncomfortable.

“I hear that a lot, that I’m crazy, stupid,” he said in spring training 2008. “They might be right. There is some stupidity to it.”

He’s been hit at or near the area with batted balls before, but not ones hit as hard or as squarely to the groin area as Ramirez’s drive.

“I think sometimes you think your hands are so good that it can never happen to me,” Wakamatsu said last month. “I guess the word is that it doesn’t matter how good you are, that one chance is not worth taking.”

Beltre is one of the few known to go cup-less at the position known as the “hot corner.”

He said he never wore one while playing on fields full of holes and rocks in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The only time he’s ever worn one was in 1996, in his first days as a 17-year-old Class-A player for the Los Angeles Dodgers. And that was only because the Dodgers briefly tried fining him for not wearing one.

After a few fines, the Dodgers stopped because they saw no matter the cost, Beltre was not going to wear a cup.

“It’s the discomfort of using it,” he said. “I can’t play wearing it.”

He is now.