To put Erik Bedard’s rocky spring training outing in perspective Friday, look at what Jeff Weaver did in his Mariner debut last year: three innings, three hits, one earned run against the Rockies.
So, doesn’t that make what Bedard did Friday — four hits, three earned runs, two walks and one strikeout against the Giants — seem insignificant in the whole scheme of things?
Bedard, as they like to say at this time of the year, got his work in. He threw 44 pitches, 31 of them strikes, and worked every corner of the strike zone — and sometimes beyond.
He cruised through the first inning, allowing only a two-out flare single down the right-field line to Randy Winn on a nice breaking pitch in on Winn’s fists, then got Ray Durham on a fly to left field for the third out.
The second inning was a struggle. Bedard walked Aaron Rowand after he appeared to have Rowand struck out on a 2-2 curveball. Rich Aurilia hit a hanging curve to the warning track in left for a long single and Bedard walked Dan Ortmeier to load the bases.
Guillermo Rodriguez swung through a curve for the first out before Travis Denker singled to center, driving in a run, and Rajai Davis followed with a sacrifice fly. Kevin Frandsen singled to right to score the third run before Winn grounded to the right of the mound, where Bedard made a nice play and threw him out.
It wasn’t the storybook debut that a lot of Mariners fans might have hoped for out of Bedard.
But hey, it’s spring training, and it’s not Jeff Weaver on the mound.
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