Kernels’ Mazza doesn’t hit a nerve anymore

CEDAR RAPIDS - They took a nerve in his elbow and moved it. Oh, that just sounds so painful.

Chris Mazza has a nasty looking scar along the inside of his right elbow, a war wound for the ulnar transposition surgery he had last August.

The relief pitcher began the 2013 season as the Cedar Rapids Kernels closer but lasted less than a month before his injury. It wasn't painful as much as it was numbing.

'No feeling in my whole entire arm,” said Mazza, who threw two shutout relief innings Tuesday night in the Kernels' 6-2 loss to Quad Cities at Veterans Memorial Stadium. 'It's hard to pitch that way, real hard.”

'When it happens, it feels like you're bumping your elbow,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer, who had the procedure done during his playing days. 'Your hand goes numb ... It's kind of a nagging deal. It never goes away.”

Mazza, 24, did rehabilitation in hopes of avoiding surgery but finally went under the knife. This isn't Tommy John surgery, as you hear so much about, where the main elbow ligament is fully or partially torn and replaced with a ligament from another part of the body.

'Cut into my flexor muscle and tucked the nerve behind it,” Mazza explained. 'Basically I was born with shallow grooves with my ulnar nerve. It kept on getting stuck on the bone, so it got so irritated that every time I threw, it felt like I got hit in the funny bone.”

Mazza began playing catch in October but suffered a setback. He got to spring training a couple weeks earlier than most of his teammates and went on a completely different rehab program that caused him to sit back in extended spring training until being assigned to Cedar Rapids recently.

This was his fifth game back and he lowered his earned run average to 3.48. His velocity has returned to its normal low to mid-90s as well.

'It's just a lot of frustration,” Mazza said. 'Other than that, it's been good. I've been in good hands. My velocity and back and even higher a little bit.”

The Kernels (28-37) gave up a pair of runs in the first inning and trailed the entire way. Starting pitcher Aaron Slegers (5-3) gave up seven hits and five runs (three earned) in 4 1/3 innings.

Cedar Rapids was 19-13 at one point in the first half but has gone 9-25 since. They have been eliminated from first-half playoff contention.

The teams play again Wednesday night at 6:35.

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