A potential loss greater than the game on the field looms over the Mariners clubhouse
The Mariners leave Maryvale with a loss in today’s spring training game, but more importantly, they leave with a question about whether or not one of their spring standouts will be ready for Opening Day.
Today was an unfortunate day to not have any video feed, as the game featured two players we’ve been watching closely this spring: Jorge Polanco, getting another start at third base, and Mitch Garver, who’s looking to leave his dismal 2024 season behind in his second year with the team. It was a strong start for Polanco in the box, as he got the Mariners scoring started in the first with a well-struck line drive single that scored Luke Raley, who had doubled to lead off the game. But Polanco was quickly outshone by Mitch Garver, who continued his strong spring with a two-run home run to left-center to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead early. (Twitter embeds aren’t working right now but Ryan Divish has video of it here.)
In the third inning, it was Polanco and Garver again, as Polanco laced another line-drive single, ending Myers’ day. Unfortunately, new pitcher Kaleb Bowman hit Mitch Garver in the hand with a pitch, and he wound up leaving the game. There’s always cause for concern when a player gets hit on the delicate bones of the hand, and extra concern when a pitcher throws in the mid-90s, as Bowman does. We’ll monitor the situation and bring you any updates.
In the field, things didn’t go as well for Polanco, who mishandled a tricky hop at third in his first chance of the day. Things were better at the six, where Colt Emerson continued to shake off his early-spring jitters and handled short nicely. The Brewers got a pair back in the bottom of the first against starter Casey Lawrence, who gave up a two-run homer run to Yelich after Polanco’s bobble allowed Jackson Chourio to reach.
Chourio got after Lawrence again in the third, tagging him for a double and ending his day. Austin Kitchen couldn’t keep that run from scoring, getting an out but then walking William Contreras and giving up a game-tying RBI single to Garrett Mitchell. Kitchen then suffered some bad batted-ball luck, with two softly-hit infield singles that barely reached the mound scoring another run, and then just suffered period with a bases-clearing triple making it 7-3.
Gregory Santos had the fourth inning and was a little wild, at one point firing a fastball over everyone’s head to the backstop. He allowed some traffic on the bases with a pair of singles (one that didn’t leave the infield), but was helped out by a seed from Cal Raleigh, who cut down Andruw Monasterio trying to steal and got an easy groundout to end the inning. Per the broadcast, his fastball sat around 97-98 mph.
There was another scary moment in the fifth, when Rick Rizzs got hit in the back of the head with a foul ball and the broadcast cut out for a few moments. Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr. were audibly shaken, but we’re assured that Rizzs is okay; he returned to the broadcast in the seventh inning.
Perhaps sensing an opening at the backup catcher position, Harry Ford entered the game in the final innings and immediately swatted an RBI double for the Mariners’ first run since the first inning. He then scored on an RBI groundout from Anthony Donofrio to make it 7-5, which is as close as the Mariners would get, their typical ninth-inning magic falling short today. Honestly, though, just getting out of Marysville without any more injuries is fine. The Mariners will have an off-day tomorrow to rest up (and Gary Hill jokingly said he’ll be calling Rizzs every hour to make sure he isn’t concussed).
Other notes:
- Luke Raley doubled to get the Mariners scoring started, just missing a home run, and walked in his second plate appearance (he was thrown out at second on a double steal attempt). He also struck out twice, because he is still Luke Raley.
- Randy Arozarena’s 0-for-3 isn’t as empty as it looks; he hit the ball to Brewers Gold Glove shortstop Brice Turang three times, and got robbed of hits twice by excellent defensive plays by Turang.
- Ryan Bliss continued his solid spring with a line-drive single, and he turned that into a triple with two stolen bases.
- Colt Emerson struck out in his first at-bat, but fought Brewers starter Tobias Myers for nine pitches first. In his second at-bat, he got ahead 3-0, took a couple good hacks and some fastballs, and then took a 97 mph fastball that was below the knees for a walk from big-leaguer Trevor Megill. The Colt Emerson hype train is reaching terminal velocity.
- Hard-throwing Will Klein had a clean sixth inning (groundout, flyout, strikeout). The command remains a work in progress, as it wasn’t the most efficient inning, but the stuff is so tantalizing, as he sat an easy 98. Sauryn Lao also had a nice inning with a pair of strikeouts.