Injured catcher Adam Moore could be out for season | Mariners notebook

The season appears all but over for Mariners catcher Adam Moore after surgery Tuesday uncovered extensive damage to the medial meniscus in his right knee.

Moore injured the knee last week in Texas, when he planted his leg in the grass behind home plate while scampering after a ball that got away from him in the dirt. The knee locked up on him right away and Moore — who has experience with injuries on that knee — knew he was going to be out a while.

Team medical director Edward Khalfayan, who performed the surgery, said in a statement put out by the Mariners that "this was an extensive tear of the medial meniscus. The procedure went very well. I anticipate an approximately 4-to-6 month rehabilitation."

That would leave Moore, in the best case scenario, ready to play by late August or early September. It's a tough turn of events for Moore, who had plenty to prove to the Mariners coming into the season after losing his starting job to incoming free agent Miguel Olivo.

Notes

• Mariners relief pitcher Aaron Laffey, who hasn't been scored on in his three outings, spanning five innings so far this season, said his fellow bullpen members have regrouped a bit after last week's rough start.

The bullpen had tossed 15 consecutive scoreless innings heading into Tuesday night's game. Laffey tossed a scoreless inning in relief of Felix Hernandez on Monday after entering with Seattle down 7-0.

Tom Wilhelmsen and Josh Lueke added scoreless innings after that, enabling the Mariners to rally for an 8-7 win. Laffey said it was just a matter of the relievers getting used to their roles with the team that first week after spring training.

"It's difficult when you go from spring training and everybody has their set number of innings and knows when they're throwing," Laffey said. "Then, you had last week, where it was all kind of hit or miss that one (Texas) series. Once guys found their in-season routine, everything kind of settled down."

• David Aardsma threw a bullpen session before Tuesday's game, and the plan now is to throw a simulated game of two innings, 30 pitches, in Kansas City on Friday before the Mariners play the Royals that night. Mariners manager Eric Wedge said that if all goes well, Aardsma could go out on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment next week.

• Chone Figgins missed Tuesday's game with a sore thumb after coming out of the game the night before. The Mariners were hoping to get Figgins into Wednesday's series finale, but weren't sure because of the early start time. Luis Rodriguez started at third base.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com