Today’s game was a spring training game played under blustery skies, but it was also the only meeting between these two AL West rivals this spring, with both teams rolling out something alongside opening day in their line-ups. The Mariners can hope their victory is indicative of things to come this season, even after Texas opened the purse strings to try to build a contender this offseason, although today’s contest also showed that there was still work to be done. But also: Julio. Let’s go!
Seattle’s likely Opening Day starter Robbie Ray was given the nod today. Ray looked mostly sharp, though his control could have been finer; he had two quick one-pitch outs and one strikeout to start the game, but then walked the nearly impossible-to-walk Adolis García and needed 21 pitches to get out of first. More pitch efficiency, please, though it’s hard to quibble when Ray has wrapped Seager the Younger up like a rag.
In the second, Nathaniel Lowe hit a hot shot that devoured Ty France like a sandwich and old nemesis of LL Kole Calhoun / Cole Kalhoun / Ckhole Khalhoughn fired a shot through the middle to put Ray in a bit of trouble with a single but a flyout from Mariners Pest hitter Jonah Heim and that disgusting Charlie Culberson takedown sent Rangers away empty-handed.
Ray’s third inning was much more efficient, although he did get help from Marcus Semien, who chased a pitch and made it 3-0 to send a chop to Dylan Moore in third, who made a fine play right on the line. Seager the Second anchored himself in the shift in an 0-2 hole and Ray got revenge on García by hitting him on three pitches. With his pitch count still below his maximum for the day, Ray got a fourth inning and was effective again, getting a groundout, another strikeout and a popout.
Things got a little untangled in the fifth for Ray; he started the inning by walking Clickhole Kohlrabi and then giving up a single to the worst member of Heim. After getting a left field, however, Jesse Winker’s throw – well, we’ll charitably say the wind caught it, but it looked wrong from Winker’s hand and ended up sailing well past Dylan Moore, allowing Heim to advance and Kitty Caboose to score all the way from second. Devin Sweet came to clean up the mess, which is a big ask for a guy who struggled at Double-A this year to face the top of the Texas roster, but other than a 0-2 throwing error at Semien , the latter roped in for an RBI double, Sweet acquitted himself well, forcing Seager to retire safely and radiating Adolis García:
Glenn Otto, who came in trade from Joey Gallo, gave the Rangers the start. Otto is a ground baller, forcing batters to put the ball on the ground about 44% of the time, and that’s of course how he got his three outs in the first inning. In the second, Abraham Toro added another hit to his spring collection, and Julio worked a walk, but Cal Raleigh ended the potential rally by sinking into a double play.
In the third, however, the Mariners had the brilliant idea of putting the ball in the air. It’s super effective! Dylan Moore got the party started with this rocket (112 MPH EV):
JP followed by smoking a spicy single on Otto’s leg, then Ty France nearly gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead, but apparently hit the ball in the part of the park where the wind wasn’t blowing. After a strikeout from Jesse Winker and a steal from Crawford, Chris Woodward made the first of an endless number of mid-inning pitch changes, calling on Josh Sborz to throw a fastball for Mitch Haniger to Sbang in left field, scoring JP
The Mariners tacked on another run in the fourth; Julio opened the inning with a first straight single down the middle, after bouncing back from being behind in the count. (And then he stole a base just for fun, and took third on wild pitch.) Raleigh and D-Mo followed with back-to-back strikeouts, though Cal forced Sborz to throw 10 pitches at him. . This led to another mid-inning pitching change, and JP was perhaps a bit grumpy at being kept waiting, saluting Spencr Patton with an RBI single to make it 3-0 Mariners.
Corn! That wouldn’t be all the Mariners score for the day! After the Rangers came within a point in the fifth, Mitch Haniger and Julio both said no thanks please, cutting the RBI double to put the Mariners ahead 5-2. Cal Raleigh also added a hurt duck RBI single to make it 6-2.
The Mariners would need every one of those runs, it turned out; Paul Sewald gave up a first home run to Joe McCarthy (why wouldn’t he have chosen to go by his middle name), and Erik Swanson on the ninth gave up two homers, one to former sailor Brad Miller, to making the score uncomfortably close 6-5, which thankfully was where it stayed. There was also good news in the bullpen; Drew Steckenrider worked a clean inning, erasing a first hit with a GIDP, and Andrés Muñoz gave up a first single but also got three out without letting the runner go any further than the first, including knocking out Eli White on three pitches , all 100 MPH or above.
Also, thanks to Mariners prospect Cade Marlowe, who caught both flyouts in this inning while having to patrol in very windy left field. The second take where he continually has to adjust on the fly is particularly impressive.
If today’s match was meant to be an Opening Day-ish preview, it’s hard to say Julio doesn’t belong on the roster. He took solid bats against pitchers who will either be on Texas’ opening day roster or close by, and recorded as many hits as his more experienced teammates Haniger and JP And while it’s true that Julio doesn’t have as many bats in the upper minors as his fellow top prospects Adley Rutschman and Bobby Witt Jr., he has something neither of them have:
