Jorge Polanco hits his first homer of the spring as Mariners fall to the Cubs in dinger-derby, 9-8

Not a great day for the pitching, but the starters show up in the desert

With the news of George Kirby hitting the IL to start the season sending a chill down the spine of Mariners fans, it would have been reassuring to see de facto staff ace Logan Gilbert have another strong spring start. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case today, as Gilbert, who couldn’t clear the second inning before hitting his pitch count, fought his command all day, going to full counts on seemingly every hitter (7 of 9!), issuing two walks, and giving up two back-to-back solo home runs to young Cubs Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jacob Amaya. Despite being one of the newest Cactus League parks, Sloan Park doesn’t have Statcast equipped, so there’s no information about what Logan Gilbert threw today other than what’s in the box score. He did strike three hitters out, and his fastball, per the broadcast, was up to 97 mph, but it wasn’t the same crisp outing he’s had other times this spring.

If it’s any consolation, former Mariner Matthew Boyd also had some challenges with the zone. He made quick work of the Mariners starters in the first, setting down the side in order (albeit with an assist by a superb play in the field by Dansby Swanson, who dove after a Jorge Polanco would-be single and threw out the slow-footed Polanco at first). Swanson couldn’t get after the same single from Mitch Garver in the second, who continued his spring of making contact, and then Rowdy Tellez continued his spring of making VERY LOUD contact with a two-run blast to dead center.

Even without Statcast data, it wasn’t hard to tell that that ball was obliterated. Then Boyd had his own lapse of command, walking Austin Shenton and Leo Rivas back-to-back, but Cole Young hit into a double play to end the threat.

The top of the lineup came back swinging in the third, with back-to-back doubles from their outfield duo, with Julio cranking a double into the left field corner and Arozarena following with his own RBI double to deep right field. Polanco then flew out to center, but Randy showed off some wheels, aggressively taking third against the powerful arm of PCA, allowing him to score on a Garver sacrifice to make it 4-2.

The tough pitching day continued in the third, when Eduard Bazardo loaded the bases and first issued a bases-loaded walk, then gave up a grand slam to Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has Cubs blue stars dyed into his blonde hair for the spring and brought all the star power today. Reid Morgan, who has an impressive shock of blonde hair of his own, was charged with bailing out Bazardo, and allowed a couple of batters to reach but was able to cap the damage there.

In the fifth, Jorge Polanco got a couple of those runs back off former Mariner Tyson Miller, crushing his first home run of the spring, a two-run shot that scored Arozarena, who had walked.

The Cubs added to their lead in the sixth against young Brandyn Garcia, who gave up an infield single and an absolutely crushed home run to Seiya Suzuki. The spring has been a crash course for Garcia in learning the difference between minor-league hitters and what major leaguers can do when you fall behind in the count, lessons he’ll surely take with him to whatever minor-league stop is next.

Harry Ford has quietly been having a very nice spring, and he continued that in the eighth, demolishing a Julian Merryweather fastball for a solo shot of his own. This was Harry’s seventh hit of the spring already, but his first homer.

Not to be outdone, Colt Emerson showed off his power in the ninth, crushing a Cade Horton fastball over the berm to draw the Mariners within a run. On a day where seven (!) balls left the park, Colt’s didn’t score the most runs, but it was the most impressively hit, and for that, I’m giving him the Sun Visor Award for the day. Viva the ninth inning magic of the baby Mariners.

Other notes:

• After a few shaky outings, it was a relatively easy day for Tayler Saucedo, who walked Kyle Tucker but was able to get Turner to ground into a double play before getting Swanson to fly out.
• Low-slot king Casey Legumina had an easy-breezy-beautiful 1-2-3 inning and continues to look impressive this spring. The Bean Man Cometh. Josh Fleming also had a nice 1-2-3 inning with three weak-contact outs, and did some mop-up duty in the eighth with another mostly clean inning.
• Michael Arroyo made a nice basket catch at second, over his shoulder and into the wind. The “but he’s positionless” armchair scouts remain in shambles.
• It was a sold-out game at Sloan Park, which holds upwards of 15,000 people - good practice for the minor-leaguers who got into this game at the end. You’re not cramming 15K into Funko Field.