Donnelly’s Rehab Stays on Course

Brendan Donnelly hasn’t had a nosebleed in more than a month so he can live with a fastball that’s a few miles an hour slower than usual.

He hasn’t been admitted to a hospital for surgery since March 29, so when a Class-A player from the Inland Empire 66’ers nearly hit a home run off him Monday night in his first rehab appearance, it didn’t bother him that much.

He was happy just to be pitching again.

Donnelly, a key cog in the strong Angel bullpen for the last two years, has been sidelined since March 9 because of complications from a broken nose. He made only one spring training appearance before the injury and Monday’s appearance for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in a California League game for the Angels’ Class-A affiliate was his first since.

He pitched the seventh inning and allowed only a leadoff double to Rene Rivera in a 4-3 Inland Empire victory. He struck out one batter and his fastball topped out at 87 mph, but his command was good.

Of the 12 pitches he threw, 11 were strikes.

“It was nice to get back in there against hitters,” Donnelly said. “It’s been a while.”

A lot longer than he expected.

On March 9, Donnelly was shagging fly balls during spring training when one of them hit him in the face and shattered his nose in 20 places. He had surgery to repair the damage and was expected to miss only a week or two.

That’s when the nosebleeds started. On March 18, he had three severe nosebleeds in one day, the third lasting an hour. He went back to the hospital and doctors told him he had lost nearly half the blood in his body. He had a second surgery.

On March 29, shortly after receiving clearance to resume workouts, the nosebleeds returned. He got a new doctor, who performed a third surgery and placed Donnelly on a much more conservative rehab. He hasn’t had a nosebleed since.

“Yeah, I was worried,” Donnelly said. “Losing all that blood ... I realized it was a little more serious than I thought.”

Donnelly was 2-2 with a 1.58 earned-run average in 63 games last season. He began the year with a streak of 23 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed only two earned runs in his first 50 innings.

He will pitch for Rancho Cucamonga again Thursday at Lancaster. Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said Donnelly would pitch again Sunday and then they would decide when to bring him back to the majors.

“We’re looking at early next week as a best-case scenario,” Scioscia said of a possible return date.

His return to the Angels would complicate things in the bullpen. Francisco Rodriguez has pitched well as the setup man for closer Troy Percival in Donnelly’s absence. Scot Shields has also pitched well and Kevin Gregg, the player who replaced Donnelly on the roster, has pitched in 10 games with an ERA of 0.49.

That may leave Ben Weber as the odd man out. Weber has a 7.43 ERA in 10 games. One thing is certain, Donnelly will not immediately resume the setup role.

“I think you want to give him some innings to get his feet on the ground, to get used to major league hitters again,” Scioscia said.

Donnelly said he is just looking forward to pitching in the majors again, no matter what his role.

“My adrenaline started pumping when the first guy almost took me deep, but it’s not the same as pitching in front of 45,000,” he said. “But baby steps, you know. Baby steps.”

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Staff Writer Ben Bolch contributed to this story.