PEORIA, Ariz. – As Mark Lowe walked into the dugout following an outing he had waited six months to finish, the first two to greet him with high-fives were Rick Griffin and Arthur Rhodes.

A fitting welcome: The Mariners head trainer and rehabilitating left-hander know best the journey Lowe completed on Saturday.

Griffin and his staff have spent most of the last two years working on Lowe’s right elbow in Seattle, prescribing a training plan for him to follow during the offseason and working him through that plan at the Mariners’ spring training facility here all this past winter.

Rhodes, 38, is trying to come back from reconstructive surgery on his pitching elbow last May.

Both watched as Lowe threw 17 sharp pitches and allowed a single and a walk during a scoreless inning of the Mariners’ 5-2 loss to Oakland. It was his first game appearance since last Aug. 5.

The 24-year-old had two trips to the disabled list in 2007 following surgery to repair a chondral defect in his pitching elbow and appeared in just four games for the Mariners.

“I spent the entire offseason getting ready for this,” said Lowe, whose winter home is around the corner from the Mariners’ spring headquarters. “My last year feels like about five. I’m just looking forward of getting out of here,” in Arizona.

The 2006 rookie wonder was noticeably encouraged and excited to finally be in transition from rehabbing to pitching.