Today was another sadly non-televised game, which is a shame not just because the Mariners emerged victorious, but because we were denied the opportunity to witness the full performance of Marco Gonzales, who is quickly becoming one of the most buzzed-about players in camp. Marco went three innings of three-hit ball, with one of those hits being a blooper and the other a bunt base hit, and surrendered no runs while striking out four. He was able to work his way out of a situation with runners on first and second by inducing a double play and then getting a strikeout to end the inning.
.@MarcoGonzales_ was brewing something today. #MarinersST pic.twitter.com/rDdKyMujyn
— Mariners (@Mariners) March 2, 2018
Marco doesn’t get the win, because a) pitcher wins are dumb and b) the Mariners’ bats were again very snoozy today, unable to get anything going over the first four innings other than a few scattered base hits. Meanwhile, Marc Rzepczynski didn’t look as sharp as he did in his last outing, struggling to locate the zone and throwing a wild pitch while issuing two walks and giving up two runs. He faced seven batters in his one innings of work. Down 2-0 with the bats not doing much, it looked like the Mariners were headed for their fifth loss of the spring.
...Enter Daniel Vogelbach.
Berm, Baby, Berm. ⚾ #MarinersST pic.twitter.com/JQvlw6wr2m
— Mariners (@Mariners) March 2, 2018
I was just lamenting the other day how the Mariners don’t seem to have had their share of mammoth spring training dingers yet. How nice of Daniel to indulge me. The Mariners would add another run in the sixth on an RBI single from Braden Bishop, who’s continued to show that his offensive breakout from last season is no Cal League-contained fluke.
The rest of the Mariners’ pen combined to lock down the win. Dan Altavilla logged another strong inning, James Pazos looked much better after a shaky outing last time, and Shawn Armstrong pitched two innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit, although the two walks are a mite concerning. The game was closed out by Wyatt Mills—who, like teammate Marco Gonzales, is a graduate of Gonzaga—taken by the Mariners in the third round of the 2017 MLB draft as a low-cost college senior to balance out the pricier picks of Evan White and Sam Carlson. Mills is a sidearming strike-thrower who ran a K/9 of 14.14 at Everett being promoted to A ball, where he maintained his high K rate and showed a propensity to get groundball outs. As a polished college arm, he’ll move quickly through the system, especially if he continues to post performances like this:
Here you go! pic.twitter.com/bl6erulVIo
— rockedfaces (@rockedfaces) March 2, 2018
Go Mariners, and go Zags.