Mariners shake off early cobwebs, get caught in late ones, fall 11-10 to Angels

A distinctly spring training game from start to finish.

We all know the drill about spring training, especially in the second game. Sun and wind wreaking havoc? Adventurous baserunning? Head-spinning lead changes? All of this and more was on display at Tempe Diablo Stadium this afternoon, but the Mariners couldn’t pull this one out against the Angels, losing 11-10 and falling to 0-2 in the early Cactus League slate.

It was a wild one right from the jump. Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz set down the top of Seattle’s order on just seven pitches, but Logan Evans ran into trouble quickly, with Taylor Ward reaching on a slow roller that third baseman Miles Mastrobuoni couldn’t get out of his hand in time and scoring on a ringing double from Logan O’Hoppe. Evans did get Mickey Moniak on an easy flyout, but Jorge Soler brought O’Hoppe home with a base hit up the middle, and trouble continued to brew on an infield hit from Nolan Schanuel that Evans fielded and unwisely tried to throw to first, missing wide and allowing Soler to get to third and Schanuel to scamper to second. Eat that next time, Logan! Things continued to unravel, with a wild pitching bringing home not one, but two runs.

Yikes! J.D. Davis kept the train rolling with another base hit, but the bleeding was mercifully stopped a routine 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Jo Adell. The M’s, for their part, struck back much sooner than yesterday’s game, with Luke Raley leading off the second inning with a single to center and Mastrobuoni working a walk. Lazaro Montes couldn’t come through with a strikeout, but Luke Raley stole third in a truly hilarious fashion to put himself in a spot to score with Leo Rivas due up next. Words can’t do it justice, so I’ve captured it in .gif form:

Rivas would come through with a sac fly, but hilarity continued to ensue with Ward flat out missing the ball in the sun, allowing Mastrobuoni to get to third and Rivas to settle in at second base. Harry Ford followed with another bloop to right field and Moniak also couldn’t handle, bringing home a second run, but Kochanowicz dug in and rebounded to strike out Víctor Robles and Dylan Moore to cap off his outing.

Back in to start the bottom of the second, Evans got a flyout to center from Kevin Newman before giving way to the bullpen, and Juan Burgos, Casey Lawrence, Carlos Vargas, and Hagen Danner all put up zeroes on the board. With the substitutions starting to fly in the middle innings, the baby M’s gave Seattle their first lead of the young spring in the fifth. After a leadoff walk from Cade Marlowe, who took third on a stolen base and throwing error, Tai Peete checked in with a bloop base hit to bring the deficit to one run. Peete also made a nice running catch in center field later in the game, displaying strong closing speed.

Michael Arroyo flew out before perpetual Mariners NRI Jacob Nottingham got plunked, and after a Raley strikeout, it was Nick Dunn’s turn to get his first plate appearance of the spring. He wasted no time making an impression, battling Caden Dana for thirteen pitches - delighting Rick Rizzs on the radio broadcast in the process - before smoking a double into the gap to both give the Mariners the lead and seal the Sun Visor Award for the day.

That lead wouldn’t last long, though. Neftali Felíz (yes that same guy!) came in for the sixth, and coughed up a pair of runs over three hits to give it right back to the Angels. While it seemed like he wasn’t getting some borderline calls, I noticed quite a bit of hard contact off of Anaheim’s bats. Of course, given that this was a wacky spring training game, there was plenty of action in both halves of the seventh. First, the good stuff. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out on a knock from Nottingham sandwiched between hit by pitches for Arroyo and Hogan Windish. Dunn unfortunately couldn’t come through again, but freshly assigned Carlos Jimenez came through with a two-run single to center to give Seattle the lead once more. Brock Rodden added on with another base hit to bring home Windish, although Jimenez was caught in a rundown at third to end the inning. But hey, let’s look at the positives!

Alas, Peyton Alford (my personal dark horse this spring) was shaky in his first outing, walking two and surrendering a pair of runs while getting just one out before giving way to Taylor Floyd, who let a third run charged to Alford come home by way of a sac fly. We were also treated to some Tyler Cleveland funk in the eighth, as he worked around a duo of walks with two strikeouts, but the doldrums had long set in at this point. End! End!

Following a leadoff walk to Nottingham, though, Hogan Windish had other plans.

The bottom of the ninth suddenly springing into existence meant Seattle went to their tenth (!) pitcher of the day, summoning Jimmy Joyce for closing duties. Joyce made quick work of Ryan Noda and Yolmer Sánchez (talk about Remembering Some Guys), setting both down on strikes, but the wheels fell off in a flash, with Nelson Rada reaching on a bunt base hit, Christian Moore following with a more traditional single, and Kyren Paris striking the killing blow. Sending a base hit into left field, Rada scored easily, but Brock Rodden’s throw to try to get a hustling Paris at second went wide, letting Moore race home to seal the win for the Angels. Bummer, man.

That’s a lot of words for the second game of spring training, but hey, after yesterday’s torridly tepid affair, there was plenty of action to be had at Tempe. Emerson Hancock will be on the bump against the Brewers tomorrow, which will be easily available to watch via webcast. We’ll see if that first W is on the horizon.