After briefly flirting with a win yesterday the Mariners went back to their comfort zone today, losing 3-6 in Maryvale to the Brewers. All three of their runs came off homers: a two-run shot by Leo Rivas and a mammoth tank job by spring breakout star Brennan Davis.
Lefty Kyle Harrison, Milwaukee’s big trade acquisition this off-season, looked sharp in his outing, blowing through the top of the Mariners’ lineup in the first on six pitches, including a three-pitch strikeout looking of Brennan Davis.
Advertisement
George Kirby worked around a hard-contact out in the first —111.6 off the bat of Garrett Mitchell, snagged by a surehanded Will Wilson at third – and then a double from Jake Bauers where Lazaro Montes made a strong throw in from right field but Leo Rivas wasn’t able to get the tag down in time.
The Mariners got on the board in the second against Harrison when Patrick Wisdom reached on a dropped third strike and then Leo Rivas leaned on a first-pitch fastball that landed directly in his turn-and-burn zone, pulling the ball 441 feet for a two-run homer. Little lion man ahoy!
Lazaro Montes kept the inning going with a “double” that he hit against the shift and then made the mistake of not going full steam into second, just squeaking underneath the tag. We can allow that since he got robbed of what should have been a solid putout at second earlier.
Kirby had to work around some more traffic in the second inning, some his fault and some not. He lost a nine-pitch battle with Blake Perkins, walking him on a splitter, and then Will Wilson mishandled a routine groundball to put two on with two outs. (Willllll I have said so many nice things about your defense this spring come onnnnn man). But Kirby was able to put out the fire, coaxing an easy inning-ending groundout off the bat of Ethan Murray. His third inning was even sharper, as he put down the Brewers in order, striking out Mitchell on the changeup then getting a pair of groundouts.
Advertisement
NB: Do not trust Statcast’s analysis on Kirby’s day. Statcast will tell you he threw an 88 mph four-seamer (he did not) and a 94 mph four-seamer. Those were actually the changeup and cutter, respectively, which Kirby was playing around with today. Pitching coach Pete Woodworth said postgame he told Kirby not to focus on throwing a bunch of changeups when he was on a limited pitch count, but George Kirby do what George Kirby want to do, especially when armed with his own PitchCom device that allowed him to call some of his pitches.
Kirby’s day ended on a sour note, unfortunately, as he hung a slider (a real one) in a 3-2 count to Andrew Vaughn, who torched the pitch into the outfield where it hopped over the fence for a ground-rule double. Postgame, Kirby said he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his sliders in this outing. “Just kind of felt like I was trying to make them too nasty. Should just trust the grip and let it fly.”
Troy Taylor couldn’t keep the inherited runner from scoring, and then gave up a three-run homer to put the Brewers ahead 4-2. (110 off the bat. 477 feet. Brutal.) Peyton Alford came up to clean up the mess, and did.
Josh Simpson was not so fortunate, and gave up another two runs on a home run to Jake Bauers and an RBI double to Christian Yelich. But he also struck out the side, one looking and two swinging. Command remains an issue for Simpson, but there’s definitely something there. It’s just not quite something fully formed yet, but he’s another depth piece that’s valuable to have in Tacoma.
Advertisement
Brennan Davis got one of those runs back in the sixth inning, because Brennan Davis will not be denied a tank shot of his own when everyone else is getting one. He took Jacob Misiorowski very deep, a 464 foot blast to deep left-center with a 115.8 EV.
Other notes:
-
Cole Young worked a walk off the lefty Harrison in the third. Good job, Cole Young. He then stole second. Good-er job, Cole Young.
-
Yosver Zulueta had a very good outing, allowing one hit on a bad-luck weak contact double but striking out the side. That is his fourth outing this spring and he’s yet to give up more than a pair of hits while striking out six. Another one to keep an eye on for the pile.
-
Gabe Mosser recovered from a rough outing last time out to pitch two solid hitless innings to close this game out.
-
The Brewers like to show each player’s hometowns on the board, which is how I found out Jonny Farmelo and Andrew Knizner were born just two hours along I-95 from each other in Centreville and Glen Allen, VA, respectively. Old Dominionheads rise up.
