Mariners 10, Brewers 6 at Peoria Sports Complex
Notable
They look ready to play some meaningful baseball.
Julio Rodriguez hit a grand slam in the eighth inning and Cal Raleigh hit his second homer of the game way out to right field on the very next pitch, sending the Mariners to a comeback victory over a Milwaukee Brewers split-squad Sunday afternoon.
The Mariners will wrap up Cactus League play on Monday afternoon before flying to Seattle on Monday evening, ahead of the season opener Thursday night against the Athletics.
Rodriguez hammered a 91-mph sinker off Brewers minor league right-hander Evan McKendry 432 feet out to right-center field for the go-ahead ahead slam.
After a pitching change, Raleigh then crushed the first pitch from Brewers minor-leaguer Kaleb Bowman 402 feet out to right. The blast had an exit velocity of 111.4 mph, and it capped a seven-run inning for the Mariners.
Raleigh’s first homer went out to right-center in the fifth inning.
Jorge Polanco pulled a line-drive homer just fair down the left-field line in the second inning, his third homer of the spring.
The Mariners had 16 hits in all, with Raleigh (3 for 5), Rowdy Tellez (3 for 4), J.P. Crawford (3 for 4), Jared Sundstrom (2 for 4) and Polanco (2 for 5) all with multiple hits.
Bryce Miller, in his final spring start, threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. He threw 76 pitches (49 strikes).
On Miller’s final pitch, the Brewers’ Wes Clarke belted a 3-2 fastball off the batter’s eye in the sixth inning. Miller was otherwise mostly sharp Sunday.
“Everything felt good,” Miller said. “The splitter was kind of weird today, but the fastball, slider, curveball all felt good. So The main thing (is) we’re healthy and built up to 75 (pitches) so we ready to go next week. …
“We’re all ready to get back to Seattle and play some games that count.”
Andrés Muñoz took a 100-mph, one-hop grounder off his left foot in the seventh inning. But he stayed in the game and allowed one run on two hits, with one walk and one strikeout.
Player of the game
Raleigh continued his recent surge, going 3 for 5 with the two homers and a single. He has five homers this spring, and four of those have come over the past week.
He also caught all nine innings behind the plate and improved to 9 for 9 this spring on ABS challenges when he successfully appealed a strike-three from Miller to end the fourth inning.
Raleigh, however, made a 10th appeal later in the game — and missed for the first time.
“I kind of knew (it was a ball) — I was just trying to see if I could steal one,” he said, smiling. “That a heat check.”
Quotable
“Really good job coming back late. Some really good at-bats there in the eighth inning. I thought Julio had a really good approach there with the bases loaded, against a guy (who) wasn’t throwing super hard, but he took a great approach, did what he had to do, and really used right-center field wisely. … We needed that late push, and we got it.” — Dan Wilson
On tap
The Mariners will close out the Cactus League season against their Vedder Cup rivals, the San Diego Padres, at 12:10 p.m. Monday in Peoria. There is no TV coverage. Radio coverage on Seattle Sports (710-AM).
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