By Charles Hamaker 

Goodyear, AZ – When the term relating to a team's “bats getting hot” in baseball comes around, you tend to think five or more runs, perhaps ten at most. The Mariners bats were scorching if that’s the case, as they plated 17 runs in their road Spring Training game against the Cincinnati Reds in Goodyear, Arizona. The Mariners had a monster first four innings of the game, tallying three runs in the first inning, seven in the third inning, and four in the fourth. Star players like Julio Rodriguez, Teoscar Hernandez, and Eugenio Suarez all look ready for regular season action as Seattle got contributions up and down the lineup from a starter heavy group to begin the game.  

Bats blast the Reds 

Seattle’s bats truly came alive in tonight’s game, and they never actually were loaded at any point throughout the course of tonight’s game. The Mariners began the game across from Brandon Williamson on the mound, a former top pitching prospect in the organization that was a key part of the trade last Spring that sent Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to Seattle. It’s safe to say that Williamson did not go on to have a “revenge game” of sorts (Yes, I know it’s Spring, that was a joke), as Mariner batters thumped him for eight hits on the night that resulted in nine runs against. It was instantly a game that was going to be longer than yesterday's here at Goodyear ballpark that lasted eight minutes under two hours, simply because of the offense that Seattle produced. 

All nine of the Mariner batters that began the game recorded at least one hit, with five of them notching multi-hit games. With Seattle’s offense numbers, especially with runners in scoring position and the bases loaded, performing below par last season, seeing this sort of production and firepower gives you an idea of the potential throughout the course of the year. This game taking place without JP Crawford, Ty France, and Cal Raleigh, so keep that in mind too. Seattle has lots of room to grow at the plate, even though they performed decently in terms of getting on base, but getting production from batters like Kelenic, Haggerty, and Pollock will help them shoot to greater and greater heights.  

Seattle centerfielder Julio Rodriguez knocked in three runs in the game, including two doubles and a homer (Photos by Liv Lyons)

Julio’s just having fun at this point, but what’s new? 

Mariners superstar Julio Rodriguez, coming off a solid game yesterday that saw him slam two doubles and tally three RBI’s, appeared as if he wanted to one-up himself in tonight’s game. The man that’s accomplished a solid amount in his young career that will see him begin his second full MLB season this year, reached base every single time he stepped up to the plate in tonight’s game against Cincinnati. His plate appearances went walk, double, double, two-run homer. Rodriguez showed off his impressive power and speed in this game, blasting that homer to right field while slinging both doubles down the third base line and scoring easily whenever he was on base. The 22-year-old, as we stated yesterday, looks fully ready for the regular season to begin.  

Flexen solid through four 

Seattle starting pitcher Chris Flexen pitched four innings, and while it wasn’t George Kirby’s outing from yesterday against the Dodgers (hard to compare to that sort of gem), it was similar to what we can expect from Chris. Four innings pitched, five hits, two runs allowed (both earned), two walks, two strikeouts, and only two instances of somewhat hard contact. Flexen allowed two doubles to begin two different innings, but outside of that was able to wheel and deal himself to a decent outing and continues to provide solid pitching. Noting his move from starting rotation to the bullpen, how Seattle uses Flexen this season will be a story to follow.   

Mariners relievers Andres Munoz, Paul Sewald, and Matt Brash helped close the game out for Seattle (Photos by Liv Lyons)

Relievers struggle slightly 

Two of Seattle’s best relievers, Andres Munoz and Paul Sewald relatively struggled a little bit in their outings following Chris Flexen’s four run outing. It isn’t necessarily anything to worry about considering that it’s Spring Training, but perhaps look at it as something to note in case anything takes place in the future. Munoz walked Joey Votto, allowed singles to Henry Ramos and former Mariner Jake Fraley, while not getting much help from catcher Tom Murphy as he committed a throwing error trying to get Wil Myers out on a blooper right in front of the plate. He did have strikeouts of talented catcher Tyler Stephenson and Henry Ramos to finish out the inning.  

Paul Sewald looked relatively bland in his outing, and again I want to reiterate that I am not overly concerned about it. After striking out Jose Barrero to begin the bottom of the sixth inning, Sewald allowed three consecutive hits to Jonathan India, Joey Votto, and Tyler Stephenson. Granted that those are all players that will see lots of starting time for Cincinnati, Sewald was giving up some contact he shouldn’t have this late into Spring. For the last time I will reiterate, he should be fine, but not his best outing of the Spring.  

Quick notes 

• Tonight’s game against the Reds last three hours and three minutes, much different than the standard Spring Training games times this year 

• Yesterday’s game at Goodyear ballpark lasted only an hour and 52 minutes.  

• Attendance tonight at Goodyear Ballpark was 5,170 

• After today’s game, the Mariners remain at 3-13 (.231 average) and a walk when the bases are loaded this Spring.  

What’s next? 

Tomorrow, Friday March 24th, 2023, the Mariners will return home to the Peoria Sports Complex as they will host their divisional rivals, the Oakland Athletics. The Mariners will look to keep their bats hot as they did in this game, but it’ll be interesting to see if they roll out a starter heavy lineup like the last two nights games considering we’re just days away from this Spring wrapping up. With stars like Julio Rodriguez and Teoscar Hernandez showing that they’re seemingly all prepped for the season to get underway, we may see them less and less in these Spring Training contests. First pitch for that game at Peoria Sports Complex against the Athletics is set for 6:40PM PST and will be broadcast live on Root Sports. For live coverage and excellent photos by Liv Lyons, be sure to follow us on twitter @CirclingSports.

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