Paxton worked four solid innings and Smith drove in four runs for Seattle
Mariners 7 , White Sox 6 at Peoria Stadium
Notable
After the previous two ugly losses, the Mariners got better pitching and played better baseball on Tuesday in a 7-6 win over the White Sox. Seattle improved to 11-7 in Cactus League play.
Starter James Paxton was solid, pitching four innings, giving up a run on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
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The Mariners jumped on touted pitching prospect Lucas Giolito, knocking him out of the game in the first inning, after scoring four runs on four hits and two walks. Leonys Martin, Mitch Haniger and Kyle Seager all singled to start the game for a 1-0 lead. Daniel Vogelbach drew a walk to load the bases and Mike Zunino followed with a four-pitch walk to force another run across. Guillermo Heredia added a sac fly and Tyler Smith bounced a double over the all for another run to make it 4-0.
After struggling with his timing on his new hand placement and swing, Leonys Martin had two crisps singles — a line drive to left and a hard groundball to center — in four at-bats. It was also promising that his two outs made in his other two at-bats came on very hard hit ground balls to first base.
Right-hander Nick Vincent continues to struggle in Cactus League play. Vincent gave up two runs on three hits and a walk, including a two-run homer to light-hitting Everth Cabrera. Vincent has now given up a homer in all four of his Cactus League appearances this spring and has a 15.75 ERA.
Player of the game
It was almost a two-homer game for Tyler Smith. The former Oregon State standout continued to swing a hot bat, going 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBI. Smith narrowly missed out on a three-run homer in the first inning with a long fly ball to left-center that bounced over the wall, forcing him to settle for a RBI double in the first inning. He left no doubt in his second at-bat, crushing a deep fly ball onto the berm in left-center for a three-run homer in the third inning. It was Smith’s second homer of in three days. He homered in Sunday’s loss to the Angels.
Quotable
“Tyler Smith. He’s had some kind of week, jumping on some fastballs early and he’s played very well.” — Servais
Highlights
On Tap
The Mariners return to Peoria Stadium on Wednesday and will host the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right-hander Chris Heston will get the start for Seattle with right-hander Christian Bergman also scheduled to pitch. The Dodgers will start right-hander Brandon McCarthy. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. The game will be televised live on Root Sports Northwest and MLB.TV. The only live radio broadcast will be on mariners.com. ESPN 710 will run a delayed broadcast at 7 p.m.
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