If you turned this game off in the second inning, that’d be understandable. Maybe you are one of the many people who woke up incredibly early to watch the US men’s hockey team gold medal match against Canada. Also, this lazy Sunday game was the first radio-only affair of the spring, held down by the broadcast crew of Rick Rizzs, Gary Hill Jr., and the affable Charlie Furbush. And by the end of the third inning, the Mariners were down 8-2. Totally get it if you went to do something else.
But if you turned the game off, you missed some fun stuff. Especially if you like [sparkle fingers] challenges. Because the fate of this game turned on Mariners prospect Jared Sundstrom making a good challenge, and butterfly-effect style, making a new game, one where the Mariners emerged victorious, 14-8.
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Another story of this game: the sheer amount of pitches the Mariners batters made Reds pitching throw. The Reds used 11 pitchers, who threw a combined 240 pitches. The Mariners drew 10 walks. Mariners pitching? Issued zero walks. Mmmm, that’s some good Controlling of the Zone.
Once again, the Mariners drew first blood, foreshadowing the level of Problem this lineup could be this season. The Mariners forced Reds starter Jose Franco to throw 30 pitches in the first inning, scraping a run out on a trio of singles: a leadoff one from Luke Raley, a hard-hit one from Julio Rodríguez (99.9 EV), and a magnificent hard-won RBI from Randy Arozarena, who took the ninth pitch of an at-bat right back up the middle (107.7 EV) for a run-scoring single. Randy was wearing the number 75, because he’d forgotten his jersey back in Peoria, and you know what, Randy? Relatable.
But that early lead quickly turned into a deep deficit. Randy Dobnak had a rough Mariners debut, working around an Elly De La Cruz double in the first but unable to escape the second inning, giving up six straight hits. All but two of those hits were on the sinker, which got torched by the Reds hitters. The Mariners had to bring in one of their “jicky” (Just In Case) minor-leaguers to mop up the inning, and Ryan Hawks, 2023 eighth-rounder, took care of De La Cruz and Eugenio Suárez, buttoning up the inning by striking out Geno with a slider.
Casey Legumina picked up where Hawks left off, taking care of his three hitters 1-2-3 for a clean third inning and ending on a strikeout of Ke’Bryan Hayes, a good showing for the Bean Man in his spring debut. Maybe that energy transferred to the offense, as the Mariners got one back in the fourth thanks to a two-out double by Will “Willy” Wilson followed by a Brock Rodden triple.
I will take one ticket to the Brocketship, please and thank you.
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But Ryan Loutos, making his Mariner debut, gave that run right back and then some. Loutos just wasn’t able to miss many bats: the Reds were able to contact everything he put on the plate, and by the time the next jicky came in to stop the bleeding—this time Marcelo Pérez—the score was 8-2. Once again, the minor-league callup stepped up; Pérez struck out Geno chasing after a slider and coaxed a groundout from Spencer Steer to cap the damage.
But the Mariners battled back in the second half of the game. It started in the fifth, when the Mariners played some small ball against former Mariner prospect Connor Phillips. The big hit came from Julio, who scorched a double (104.2 EV) off a sweeper well below the zone. Arozarena worked another walk, this time with two outs, bringing up Dominic Canzone, who singled to score Luke Stevenson, pinch-running for Julio. Michael Arroyo then turned in yet another polished plate appearance: he’d gotten some bad luck earlier in the game, a 107.6 mph lineout and a groundout that came off the bat at 103.2; this time he worked a walk, refusing to chase anything out of the zone, to load the bases. The defense remains an issue – he mishandled a routine throw and let a ball go past his glove today at second – but his production in the box will force him into the lineup somehow. Will Wilson then worked a bases-loaded walk of his own to cut the deficit to 8-4.
Then it was time for the Brock Star again. Facing new pitcher Julian Garcia, Rodden shot a ground ball just out of reach of former Mariners prospect Edwin Arroyo to bring in another run. Jonny Farmelo struck out to end the inning, but the game now stood at a manageable 8-5.
In the middle innings, it was time for some more Mariners debuts. Robinson Ortiz made his Mariners debut in the fifth with a clean 1-2-3 inning of three weak-contact outs (one was a little more adventurous than it needed to be thanks to a poor throw from Arroyo, but Josh Naylor was able to clean it up). Ortiz’s fastball hung out around 93 mph and he primarily threw his four-seam with a couple of sliders mixed in. In the sixth, it was time for Cole Wilcox. Wilcox definitely won the stuff battle, hanging out at 97 on his sinker and touching as high as 98.5 while collecting two strikeouts.
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The Mariners added another pair of runs in the seventh against Lyon Richardson. Arozarena—wearing number 75 because he apparently forgot his jersey, oh Randy—singled in his final plate appearance. New LL heartthrob Brennen Davis worked a walk, showing some solid strike zone awareness. Blake Rambusch and Luis Suisbel then hit back-to-back singles to bring the Mariners within a run, 8-7.
The turning point of the game came in the eighth inning. With two outs, the Reds had challenged a pitch on Carson Taylor; the call was upheld, and Taylor walked. That brought up Jared Sundstrom, who was initially called out in a 1-2 count on a 98.1 mph fastball on the inside edge. Sundstrom immediately challenged, and the call was reversed. Sundstrom would go on to work a walk as Reds pitcher Zach Maxwell’s command further disintegrated. Brennen Davis and Blake Rambusch would go on to work back-to-back walks, tying up the game at 8-8.
Obviously playing for the win, Dan Wilson left Jhonathan Díaz out for the bottom of the eighth after he had worked a clean seventh. That set up the Baby Mariners for the win in the ninth: two highly-touted Mariners prospects delivered leadoff doubles, with Felnin Celesten doubling in his first at-bat of the spring and then sprinting home on a Jonny Farmelo double to give the Mariners their first lead since the first inning. Josh Caron followed that with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs, and Luke Stevenson worked the Mariners’ tenth walk of the day. Sundstrom then came through again with a two-run single into left, setting up Brennen Davis for the kill shot. Davis demolished a middle-middle fastball at 114 mph for a three-run home run to make the score 14-8, and that’s where the game would end as Domingo Gonzalez worked a 1-2-3 inning in his Mariners debut.
In a game that featured nine challenges, none was more impactful than Sundstrom’s, leading to the Mariners tying the game. With the ABS system, players have an opportunity take more ownership over their at-bats, but the risk is significant; those who have an impeccable sense of the zone will find themselves advantaged by the challenge system. The Mariners went 2-for-3 in their challenges today, but more importantly, they won the battle in the zone on both sides of the ball. The Reds recorded 12 hits, striking out eight times and, as mentioned, walking none; the Mariners recorded 17 hits, and while they did strike out 12 times, they also earned 10 free passes. No matter what innovations come to the game, commanding the zone is timeless.
