Rockies 6, Mariners 1 at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick
Notable
After seven innings of crisp baseball and the teams playing to a 1-1 tie, the Mariners fell apart in the bottom of the eighth, giving up five runs to the Rockies.
Colorado loaded the bases against right-hander Hagen Danner on three straight singles, including two soft infield hits.
Danner forced in the go-ahead run, walking Adael Amador on five pitches to make it 2-1.
It only got worse for Danner. A swinging bunt off the bat of Yanquiel Fernandez went for an RBI single to make it 3-1. Kyle Karros followed with a double down the left-field line that scored two runs. The only out Danner would record was a sac fly off the bat of Owen Miller that made it 6-1.
Lefty Peyton Alford replaced Danner and retired the next two hitters to end the inning.
The Mariners’ only run came in the fifth inning. Samad Taylor led off with a bunt single and advanced to second on Donovan Solano’s single to left. Taylor moved up to third when Randy Arozarena hit into a double play and then scored on a wild pitch.
Seattle mustered just four hits in the game. Julio Rodriguez led off the game with a double into the right-field corner, turning the first pitch thrown by Colorado starter German Marquez into a low screamer of a line drive. But he was ultimately stranded at third.
Player of the game
In his second outing of the spring, Logan Gilbert looked sharp, retiring the first eight batters he faced in order. But a walk to Jacob Stallings ended his outing at 42 pitches. He struck out two hitters and his fastball was consistently at 96-97 mph.
“In three innings, I’m kind of like competing, but also trying to get to certain things just to try it in spring training,” Gilbert said. “So I shook (Harry Ford) off a little bit when he called my normal sequence. And he was probably kind of confused back there, but I told him, you know, he’s calling the right pitches, but I was just trying to get to certain stuff.”
Quotable
“Tough eighth inning, obviously defensively, we made some mistakes and gave up some runs there. But I thought Logan threw the ball really, really well today. Getting that out of him today was outstanding. He looked very sharp early on. For him to get out there for a third inning, it was outstanding. He established the things he needed to early and then was able to work on things in that third inning.” — Dan Wilson
On Tap
The Mariners return to Peoria Stadium to host the Cleveland Guardians on Monday afternoon. Right-hander Luis Castillo will make his second start of the spring with right-handers Casey Legumina, Cody Bolton, Eduard Bazardo, Shintaro Fujinami and Hunter Cranton and lefty Josh Fleming scheduled to pitch. The Guardians will start right-hander Luis Ortiz. Former Mariner Paul Sewald is also scheduled to pitch for Cleveland. First pitch is set for 12:10 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed via webcast on mariners.com and MLB.TV. There will be a live radio broadcast on Seattle Sports 710-AM and the MLB app.
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