By Ryan Divish
The Seattle Times
PEORIA — After wanting to get a few extra days of work in the cages and in batting practice, Edwin Encarnacion played in his first game of the spring.
In his first at-bat, he smoked an RBI double off the left field fence to give Seattle a 1-0 lead. Domingo Santana quickly made it 3-0, hitting a towering two-run home run to center field — his first of the spring.
The Mariners broke the game open in the later innings. Evan White had a RBI single, Ian Miller smashed a three-run homer and Seattle cruised to an 11-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
“That’s about as far as Ian Miller can hit it. He had a good day as well,” manager Scott Servais said.
Starter Yusei Kikuchi picked up the win, tossing two innings while striking out one batter and allowing two unearned runs on one hit and one walk.
Player of the game
A dislocated pinky finger on his right hand provided a brief speed bump in Kyle Lewis’ path to his first Cactus League game this spring. The injury, which happened on Thursday, wasn’t serious, unlike the knee issues that have derailed the development of the former top prospect and first-round pick in 2016. But his debut was a memorable one. Lewis blooped a single into right field in his first at-bat of the game. But the second one provided a brief example of his vast potential. Facing Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen, Lewis clubbed a 2-2 fastball over the wall in left-center on to the berm for a two-run homer. He hit a deep fly ball in his third at-bat. It’s a positive for the Mariners that Lewis is healthy enough to participate in spring training. He will start the season at Class AA Arkansas.
“I’m just excited to be able to play,” Lewis said. “It was really cool.”
Quotable
“Kyle looks healthy. And I’m really happy for him. He’s gone through a lot the last few years. He’s looked great all spring. Obviously, he banged up his finger the other day so I was excited to get him in there.” — Servais
On Tap
The Mariners are back at Peoria Stadium for a second straight game, hosting the Texas Rangers at 12:10 p.m. Left-hander Marco Gonzales gets the start for Seattle, while Texas plans to go with right-hander Adrian Sampson, who was a standout at Skyline High School in Sammamish. Also scheduled to pitch for Seattle are right-handers Ruben Alaniz, Chasen Bradford, Cory Gearrin and Nick Rumbelow and lefty Zac Rosscup. The game will be televised on Root Sports with a live radio broadcast on ESPN 710 and mariners.com
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