Erik Bedard has completed his start in a minor league intrasquad game and, except for a couple of home runs by slugging prospect Rich Poythress, he pitched well.
Poythress hit an opposite-field homer to right-center in the first inning, then pulled a full-count fastball over the fence in left
-center in the fourth. Those were the only runs Bedard allowed.
After Bedard plunked Johan Limonta in the ribs with a one-out pitch in a long fourth inning, pitching coach Carl Willis shouted from the dugout, “That’s it.” Bedard’s day was done after 3 1/3 innings and 66 pitches. He allowed five hits (including the two Poythress homers), hit a batter, struck out six and didn’t walk anyone.
“I felt good. That’s all it is,” Bedard said. “I’m getting my pitch count up and getting the arm in shape. That’s all you need in spring training.”
The key is that Bedard has made it through four spring training outings without a problem with his left shoulder, which has undergone three surgeries in the past three years. He describes this as a normal spring training.
“It’s better than being hurt and trying to rehab,” he said.
Better for Bedard and especially better for a Mariners team that really, really could use him in a starting rotation given the youth and inexperience toward the back end. Asked if he has progressed to the point that he can look ahead to April instead of the step-by-step process of seeing how he feels with each outing, Bedard said every spring is a progression.
“Spring training is always step by step,” he said. “You throw 10-15 more (pitches) every start and that’s basically what you try to work on. You don’t try to think too much ahead. You just do what you can as you progress.”
What’s important with this spring training is that Bedard’s arm has felt good after each of his outings. That doesn’t mean he’s home free, however, because he’ll have three more outings before the season begins and will push his pitch count to an area he hasn’t experienced since 2009.
Despite the Poythress homers, Bedard called this another step forward.
“You pitch around that one guy, you’ve got a hell of an outing,” former Mariner Jay Buhner chided Bedard after they got back to the clubhouse.
Poythress did that to a lot of pitchers last year. He hit 31 home runs and drove in 130 runs at Class A High Desert and was named the Mariners’ minor league player of the year.
He got the count in his favor both times against Bedard today and got fastballs to drive.
“The first one was up and out over the plate, so he hit it over,” Bedard said. “The other one creeped almost right down the middle. He hit it good.”
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