During Tuesdasy night's game against the Angels at Safeco Field, Mariners' pitcher Rafael Soriano was hit in the head with a line drive from one of the most powerful hitters in baseball.

But there's good news for Soriano and the Mariners: He has a mild concussion and a promising outlook.

After spending the night in Harborview's intensive care unit, doctors released him late Wednesday afternoon.

Doctors call the way Soriano is recovering from one of the nastiest hits in baseball "miraculous".

As the rocket line-drive went straight at Soriano's head, every player in the ballpark winced in agony. Mariners' closer J.J. Putz said what everyone was thinking, "It's the scariest thing in baseball, without a doubt."

Soriano's pitch was 92 miles per hour. Vladimir Guerrero's hit made it go even faster -- Soriano had just a third of a second to react. That means the ball was traveling roughly 125 mph when it hit him.

It could have been a career-ending, perhaps even a life-ending disaster. But doctors say Soriano had two things working in his favor.

First was where the ball hit -- right behind Soriano's right ear. Harborview Chief of Surgery Dr. Richard Ellenbogen says, "it's certainly some of the thickest bone in the skull." The thick bone there never fractured. "He's fortunate it didn't hit him in the orbit, eyeball, nose or any of the softer places of the skull. Although he wasn't in the right place at the right time, it was better than it could have been."

Also, Soriano's pitching movement helped. "So he was able to absorb the impact," says Dr. Ellenbogen, "pretty miraculous that he was able to absorb that sort of impact and look as great as he's looking right now."

Soriano never lost consciousness and was able to move and speak. Dr. Ellenbogen says Soriano's brain never sustained any damage; all the swelling is on the outer part of his skull.

Other than being tired and still having a slight residual headache, Soriano was doing quite well.

"He was pretty articulate in both Spanish and English with staff and he is in pretty good spirits," Ellenbogen said. "I did not know him before, but his family doesn't think he's lost very much."

Guerrero visited Soriano in the hospital for about five minutes Tuesday night. The two are friends from the Dominican Republic.

"I feel a whole lot better knowing he's OK," Guerrero said.

So, how long before he's pitching again? "He will need to recover from that concussion," says Dr. Stan Herring, one of the Mariners' team doctors. "(He'll then) go through a progression of return to activity to see how he functions, (but) there is no timeline right now."

Doctors plan to re-examine Soriano in 10 to 14 days, and the team has set no timetable for his return, but Hargrove seemed to think Soriano would be back this season. With rosters expanding on Sept. 1, the Mariners chose not to put Soriano on the disabled list and add a minor league pitcher to the roster for Wednesday's game.

Doctors say recovery from a concussion, even a mild one, varies from person to person. So while they're only seeing good signs with Soriano, they won't speculate on how soon he'll return to the mound or if he'll have a 100 percent recovery.

Seattle has an off day Thursday and opens a road trip Friday against Tampa Bay. But Seattle's pitchers realized it was something they couldn't dwell on.

"It's something you have to put out of your mind," left-handed reliever George Sherrill said. "You're never going to be an effective pitcher if you're pitching scared."

The Associated Press contributed to this report