PEORIA, Ariz. — Brad Miller hit two home runs, and Mike Zunino also connected to as the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3 on Monday.
Miller and Chris Taylor, both competing to be the starting shortstop, were in the lineup together in the absence of star second baseman Robinson Cano. He is away from the team after the death of his grandfather and expected to return Friday.
Miller got the start at shortstop and started a double play in the first inning by flipping the ball to Taylor.
Miller and Taylor each went 2-for-2, Taylor doubled and singled.
“I’ll take them in singles, doubles, pairs, whatever,” said Miller, 4-for-6 during spring training. “It was awesome, especially early. We know we’re probably going to get a couple of at-bats, and you just want to make the most of them.”
Cleveland’s Brandon Moss, as the designated hitter, got his first at-bats in a game after October hip surgery and hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to tie it at 3.
“It felt good to have to run the bases,” Moss said. “It felt weird to run the bases for sure, then you hit a ball hard and all of a sudden you have to run. That was exciting and very scary at the same time.
“There’s nothing I can do to really reinjure it unless I were to do something to tear the labrum again.”
Yan Gomes added a two-out, two-run double in the sixth.
Mariners reliever Tyler Olson, competing for one of the left-hander spots in the bullpen, struck out the side in his lone inning of work. He hasn’t allowed a base runner in nine batters faced this spring.
Mark Lowe also fanned all three batters he faced in the ninth.
D.J. Peterson’s sacrifice fly drove in Ketel Marte with the winning run in the bottom half.
Taijuan Walker’s bid to make the starting rotation on opening day is off to a good start. After two scoreless innings last week, he faced the minimum nine batters in three shutout innings. Walker also struck out four.
“Everything felt good,” Walker said. “I guess I could probably work on my fastball command a little more. I threw it for strikes but not where I wanted to throw it sometimes.”
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