Outfielder T.J. Bohn, cut early in spring training after a difficult start in the major league camp, is showing his power with the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers.
Bohn hit two home runs Friday night and drove in five runs in the Rainiers’ 8-5 victory at Sacramento. It gave the Rainiers a half-game lead over Salt Lake in the Pacific Coast League Pacific North Division going into an eight-game homestand that started Saturday against Fresno.
Bohn is one of three Rainiers – Greg Dobbs and Adam Jones are the others – with four home runs this season. Dobbs hit his fourth Friday. The Rainiers had homered in six straight games.
Outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and catcher Rob Johnson led the Rainiers with .353 batting averages. Choo had six stolen bases and Johnson a 10-game hitting streak.
Right-hander Francisco Cruceta was 1-0 in three starts with a 1.46 earned run average that was tied for fifth in the PCL. Left-hander Bobby Livingston was 1-1, 2.12 and right-hander Clint Nageotte 2-1, 3.86.
Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is expected to remain in the disabled list a few more days after spraining his right ankle April 11.
Former Rainier Justin Leone, who signed with the Padres in the offseason and is playing for Class AAA Portland, led the PCL with a .491 average and had seven home runs, 20 RBI and a .927 slugging percentage entering Saturday.
Elsewhere around the Mariners’ minor league system:
Class AA San Antonio Missions: After a 5-2 start to the seasons, the Missions lost seven straight and plunged to last place in the Texas League South.
First baseman Bryan LaHair was batting .333 and outfielder Wladimir Balentien .294 with two home runs and a league-high 12 RBI. However, he’d struck out 19 times in 51 at-bats.
Left-hander Cesar Jimenez was 0-2 after three starts but had a 2.76 ERA, and lefty Travis Blackley went into Saturday night’s start at Midland 1-1, 4.30 in three games.
Class A Inland Empire 66ers: Outfielder Josh Womack’s .417 average was tied for first in the California League. He’d hit two home runs and driven in seven runs.
Infielder Yung Chi Chen was batting .308 and Matt Tuiasosopo .304 with five doubles.
Right-hander Mark Lowe was 1-0, 0.56 in five games, including one start.
The 66ers were 8-6, second in the South Division, entering Saturday night’s game at Bakersfield.
Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers: The Rattlers had won three straight entering Saturday’s game at South Bend to raise their record to 5-8, fifth place in the Midwest League Western Division.
Shortstop Jeff Dominguez led the Rattlers with a .295 average.
Left-hander Justin Thomas was 1-2 with a 1.00 ERA in three starts, and righty Marwin Vega was 1-1, 1.56 in three starts.
Jamie Moyer said during spring training that it would be easier to pitch with the bases empty and not deal with the stress. But then, it wouldn’t adequately prepare him for the regular season, and that’s what spring training is all about. So Moyer, while not purposely allowing runners to reach, relished the opportunity.
Last week against the Texas Rangers, he showed just how to do it.
Twice in that game he pitched with the bases loaded and one out against a lineup that can bury a pitcher in such a situation. Moyer gave up one run each time, and it took a bases-loaded walk to bring home one of those runs.
Nobody in the clubhouse was surprised Moyer limited the damage and gave the Mariners a chance to win, which they did with a late-game rally. A magician at changing speeds and locations with his pitches, Moyer also can be an escape artist when he’s in a jam.
“You look at Jamie from the outside, at how old he is and how hard he throws, and you say to yourself, ‘Damn, how does he do it?’” closer Eddie Guardado said. “But I’ve had a chance to be in this clubhouse and watch what he does. When you’re in here, you know how he does it.
“He prepares himself each and every day to get ready for that fifth day. In our pitchers’ meetings every time a series comes up, he’s writing everything down on each hitter.
“That’s why when he gets into jams, he gets out of them.”
Hopefully, some younger, harder-throwing (and possibly harder headed?) pitchers are watching.
“Jamie very rarely gives in,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “He’s got tremendous command of all his pitches. He doesn’t get frustrated and groove one just to get it over with. He still tries to make his pitches, although occasionally it bites him like it did with that bases-loaded walk.”
That walk to D’Angelo Jimenez looked like a huge mistake, but could it actually have been part of Moyer’s plan? Not originally, but after he threw three quick balls, pitching coach Rafael Chaves believes Moyer put him on and forced in a run.
“Once he got behind 3-0, he chose to go for the walk and not give up a bunch of runs all at once,” Chaves said.
The theory, strange as it may seem against a ninth-place hitter, was to give up one run and start with a fresh count against the next hitter.
“I thought it was a smart move,” Chaves said.
But why walk the ninth hitter and face the top of the order with the bases still loaded?
“We’re in the big leagues,” Chaves said. “Anyone can hit the ball out in a certain count. It may have looked bad because he walked in a run, but better one than four.”
Beyond that bit of strategy, the key to escaping trouble is for a pitcher just to be himself. Moyer is effective because he doesn’t try to muscle up and become Felix Hernandez, just as Hernandez would be wise not to try and be Hercules.
Young pitchers are prone to throwing hard and trying to miss bats when they get in trouble. Veterans, like Moyer, often go soft to invite contact.
“Younger guys, the more trouble they are in, the harder they try,” Chaves said. “I always ask them, ‘If you were able to throw the ball harder when you got in trouble, then why didn’t you throw the ball harder before you got into trouble?’
“You can’t just throw it harder. Your effort may be higher, but I’ve never seen 110 mph. You might have more effort, but you’ll have less command. The older you get, the more you realize it and you’ll start pitching instead of throwing harder.”
“Any pitching coach will say the same thing. Harder is not necessarily better. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell them, until they experience that situation, then they realize ‘Wow, what that guy told me 10 years ago really works.’ “
Kirby Arnold covers the Mariners for The Herald
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