By Ryan Divish / The Seattle Times
PEORIA, Ariz. — Down a run going into the top of the ninth, the Seattle Mariners rallied to score two runs to take a brief lead. But in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, San Diego Padres infielder Owen Miller hit a solo homer off of Justin Dunn to tie the game at 7-7, which is how it ended.
Starter Mike Leake gave the Mariners an uneven performance, pitching 3 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Leake allowed a three-run third inning that featured four consecutive hits to start the frame to lead to two runs, while a fielder’s choice scored another run. He served up back-to-back solo homers to Francisco Mejia and Manuel Margot to start the fourth inning. Leake was lifted with two outs in the inning and his pitch count over 70.
Domingo Santana hit his third homer of the spring — a towering two-run blast to left-center off of right-hander Bryan Mitchell.
“Domingo’s swinging the bat really well,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He has all spring from the first game out there, he’s been on top of it.”
The Mariners also played a “B”game vs. the KT Wiz of the Korean Baseball Organization. Felix Hernandez started the game and pitched four innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Eric Filia had a homer and a triple in the B game.
Player of the game
Jake Fraley continues to swing a hot bat for the Mariners. Acquired from the Rays along with Mallex Smith in a trade for Mike Zunino, Fraley has impressed this spring. He smashed a solo homer to deep left-center and later lashed a two-run double into right field. Fraley is hitting .436 (7 for 16) with a double, a triple, two homers and six RBI.
Quotable
“Jake Fraley has had an unbelievable spring. Obviously he’s new and like many of these guys that come to a new organization, you want to give a strong impression and he has handled everything we’ve thrown at him. He’s got power. He’s done a nice job defensively. He runs the bases pretty well and he’s got some speed. Pretty impressive spring so far for him.” — Servais
On tap
The Mariners will be a Peoria Stadium for their first night game of the spring, hosting the Oakland A’s. Left-hander Wade LeBlanc will get the start for Seattle, while fellow lefty Brett Anderson will start for Oakland. Also scheduled to pitch for the Mariners are right-handers Erik Swanson, Hunter Strickland, Chasen Bradford and Brandon Brennan.
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