Mariners pitching held Kansas City to two runs on five hits.
Mariners 9 , Royals 2 at Surprise StadiumÂ
Notable
After four straight games of giving up a plethora of runs and hits, the Mariners pitchers came through with a solid outing against a split squad Royals team that still featured Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Brandon Moss and Jorge Soler. Seattle pitchers combined to give up two runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and one walk.
Starter Chase De Jong pitched four innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits with a walk and a strikeout. It was his own-first inning throwing error to first base that led to one run. The other game on a Cactus League homer to Drew Butera. The high fly ball looked like it would be a routine out, but it kept carrying over the fence.
“He looked really good, very aggressive with good stuff,” manager Scott Servais said. “Fastball was around the zone and the curveball was really effective.
Most Read Sports Stories
The relievers following De Jong were solid, not allowing a run. Marc Rzepczynski worked a scoreless frame while Cody Martin looked strong, pitching three hitless innings with five strikeouts. Nick Hagadone pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Mariners’ offense capitalized on two early errors by the Royals and banged out 13 hits with six walks.
Taylor Motter and Tyler O’Neill each had two hits and drove in a run in the win.
Player of the game
Boog Powell continues to swing the hot bat for the Mariners. Powell went 3-for-4 with two RBI. He led off the second inning with a single and later came around to score. Â He added another single in the third inning and a two-run double to left in the sixth inning. For the spring, Powell is hitting .577 with six RBI.
“Unbelievable spring he’s having with the quality of his at-bats,” Servais said.
Quotable
“Wow, I saw him swing. So I saw ball hit barrel. But after that, it was just kind of moving my head out of the way and then I caught it. I felt it and then I looked and it was still in my glove. And I just walked right off after that. Even it wasn’t three outs, I’m going to be done after that.” — De Jong on a rocket comebacker off the bat of Ramon Torres  that he caught.
Highlights
On Tap
The Mariners will be a split squad on Friday with a day/night road doubleheader. For the afternoon game, Seattle will be at Salt River Field in Scottsdale to face the Diamondbacks. Right-hander Yovani Gallardo will get the start for the Mariners. Also scheduled to pitch are Andrew Moore, Evan Scribner and Dan Altavilla. Arizona will go with right-hander Shelby Miller. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. There will be no radio or television broadcast for this game.
In the evening, the Mariners will travel to Camelback Ranch to face the Dodgers. Lefty Ariel Miranda will start for Seattle with right-handers Max Povse, Ryan Weber and lefty Dean Kiekhefer also scheduled to pitch. The Dodgers will go with ace Clayton Kershaw. The game will be televised by the Dodgers network, meaning people with MLB.TV can watch the game. There will be a live radio broadcast on ESPN 710 and mariners.com
Boxscore