PEORIA, Ariz. – The Mariners bullpen teamed for 12 strikeouts and only 1 walk in 5.0 scoreless innings of work, and Mike Zunino hit his first home run of the spring, but Seattle fell short to the Colorado Rockies, 3-2, before a crowd of 5,086 on Tuesday night at Peoria Stadium.
The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st. Dee Gordon led off the frame with a single and promptly stole 2nd base. After advancing to 3rd on a groundout, Gordon scored on Robinson Canó’s line drive single to left field.
Colorado plated 2 runs in the top of the 3rd and never again trailed. The Rockies added 1 run on a solo home run in the top of the 4th and held onto the lead over the final 6 innings.
Zunino belted a no-doubt home run to left field in the bottom of the 4th as the Mariners cut Colorado’s lead to 3-2.
Mike Leake allowed 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 2 in 4.0 innings of work. James Pazos (1 H, 2 K), Dan Altavilla (2 K), Art Warren (2 H, 3 K), Chasen Bradford (1 BB, 2 K) and Casey Lawrence (3 K) each worked 1.0 scoreless inning of relief. Mariners pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts and only 1 walk. Altavilla has now retired 12 of 13 batters faced this spring, including 8 via strikeout.
The Mariners (5-6-1) return to Cactus League action tomorrow (Wednesday, March 7) to host the Oakland Athletics at 6:40 p.m. MT/5:40 p.m. PT at Peoria Stadium. The game will be broadcast live in the Seattle area on 710 ESPN Seattle and the Mariners Radio Network. The broadcast can also be streamed live on Mariners.com. The game will be televised live in HD on ROOT SPORTS NW. Left-hander Marco Gonzales is slated to start for the Mariners against Athletics right-hander Jharel Cotton.