George Kirby gets first start of spring, but Mariners come up short vs. A’s

A’s 8, Mariners 5 at the Peoria Sports Complex

Notable

After scoring double-digit runs in each of their last four Cactus League games — something that hasn’t happened in franchise history — the Mariners offense was largely stymied, mustering just one run on a Rowdy Tellez solo homer over the first eight innings vs. the A’s.

Seattle came into the game having scored 44 runs on 49 hits over those previous four games.

Mariners minor leaguers scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to make the score look a little more respectable.

In his first start of the spring, George Kirby was his typical efficient self in the first inning. He worked a quick 1-2-3 inning, needing only nine pitches and punctuating it with a strikeout looking of Tyler Soderstrom. But the second inning wasn’t quite as crisp. He walked J.J. Bleday on five pitches and then issued a free pass to Seth Brown on five pitches, ending his outing.

Oakland opened up the game against reliever Carlos Vargas in the third inning. The hard-throwing right hander, who worked a clean 1-2-3 inning in his previous outing, struggled in his second outing of spring. He gave up a single, issued a walk and gave up another single that loaded the bases with no outs. Vargas came back to strike out Bleday and Brown. But he walked former Mariner Luis Urias to force in a run. With Vargas past his pitch limit, manager Dan Wilson called on minor league call-up Jesse Wainscott, who entered the game and struggled, walking in a run and hitting another batter to force in another run. All three runs scored in the inning were charged to Vargas.

Player of the game

Jack Lopez, who was brought over from minor league camp to serve as a backup, came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Generously listed at 5-9, 160 pounds, Lopez hammered a ball to dead center that short-hopped the wall for a bases-clearing double.

Quotable

“Tough one today. But a lot of positives we can draw from it. I thought the guys actually swung the bat pretty well. I think guys are swinging the bat well and they’re having some good at-bats. George, I thought, looked pretty good in that first inning, and made pretty quick work of it. He had a little more command issues there in the second inning. But that’s his first time up and down for an inning. That’s gonna happen.” — Dan Wilson

On Tap

The Mariners will have their first of four split-squad days of their Cactus League schedule on Thursday.

A team of players will travel to Surprise to face the Texas Rangers. Lefty Jhonathan Diaz will get the start vs. Texas. Also scheduled to pitch in that game are right-handers Casey Lawrence and Blas Castano. The Rangers will start right-hander Tyler Mahle. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m. PT. The game will have live Rangers radio broadcast on mlb.com.

The Mariners will also have a squad hosting the San Francisco Giants at Peoria Stadium. Right-hander Bryce Miller makes his first start of the spring for Seattle. Also scheduled to pitch for Seattle are right-handers Casey Legumina, Dauris Valdez, Eduard Bazardo and Shintaro Fujinami along with lefty Josh Fleming. The Giants will start right-hander Landen Roupp. First pitch is set for 12:10 p.m. The game will have a live webcast on Mariners.com and the MLB TV app and a live radio broadcast on Seattle Sports 710-AM and the MLB app.

Video highlights

Boxscore

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