The Mariners and Padres brought the sun down again with their second straight 10 innng game, this one ending in a 4-4 tie after both teams couldn’t take it anymore. Actually, they’d run out of pitching, which happens in spring training.
For the second straight game, the Mariners also ran out of bases to get thrown out at. Two runners got picked off, one was thrown out at third and another at the plate.
The Padres tied the score with a run in the ninth inning off right-hander Eric Hull, who’d done a masterful job in the eighth when he came out of the bullpen and escaped a bases-loaded jam.
The bottom of the ninth had a Snohomish County flavor when Mitch Canham, the former Lake Stevens High School star who’s in his first big-league camp with the Padres, led off the bottom of the 10th with a single. He showed his speed by stealing second, then reached third on a ground out before Mariners right-hander Luis Munoz struck out Travis Denker to end the inning.
That’s when everyone went home feeling like a sister who’d just been smooched.
Mariners starter Felix Hernandez threw 23 pitches in his two innings, only four in the first when the Padres came out hacking at his fastball-only arsenal. The Padres got to Hernandez with four hits and two runs in the second inning.
Hernandez said he was working primarily on controlling his fastball to both sides of the plate and, despite the rocky second, he was happy with his outing.
Manager Don Wakamatsu seemed a little less thrilled, saying Hernandez got too many pitches up in the second inning. Wakamatsu wasn’t overly thrilled with his pitching, although he did praise right-hander Shawn Kelley, the 24-year-old who has a 1.98 ERA in two minor league seasons.
The Mariners scored three times in the second inning, including a windblown home run by Chris Shelton. They also scored in the fifth when Mike Morse doubled to right field, scoring Jeff Clement.
This game also marked the return of right-hander Denny Stark, a 34-year-old who’s trying to continue his pro career after having two major elbow operations kept him idle in both 2006 and 2007. Also, first-base prospect Bryan LaHair played left field the final four innings, returning to a position he last played on a regular basis at the Class A level five years ago. Look for LaHair to get a fair amount of time in left field this spring, just so he can get at-bats.
And, like Wednesday’s game when the Mariners’ aggressiveness on the bases bit them, they ran into outs again.
Reegie Corona was picked off first base twice, Clement was thrown out at home by a wide margin in the third inning and Morse was thrown out at third after trying to stretch his RBI double in the fifth.
The biggie was Callix Crabbe, who was tagged out at home in the top of the 10th when he tried to score from second base on Rob Johnson’s high-chop single to shortstop.
Just a wild guess here, but look for the Mariners to work on baserunning in the next day or so.
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