Tuesday’s Game 24 recap: Mariners 6, Giants 3
Player of the Game: Young right-hander Brandon Maurer (pictured) was outstanding once again with five innings of one-run ball on just three hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Not bad on a night against the World Series champion Giants under the lights in front of a sellout crowd of 11,188 at Peoria Stadium.
Stat of the Game: Kendrys Morales homered for his third straight game, this one a solo shot in the seventh inning. Morales now has five home runs this spring, one behind Michael Morse, and the Mariners now have 45 bombs in 23 games. They need seven more in their final eight games to set there a club record for Cactus League action.
Storyline: The Mariners won their sixth straight game and this one meant a little something, coming against the Giants with Maurer stepping up and young Nick Franklin also playing his best game of the spring with a 2-for-2 night with a double, two runs and two RBIs. Reliever Steven Pryor also looked impressive, cranking up his heater to 97 in the eighth inning.
Worth noting: After the game, the Mariners sent three players down to Minor League camp — catcher Mike Zunino, outfielder Eric Thames and right-handed reliever Logan Bawcom. That puts the roster now at 37 players, headed toward the final 25.
Quote of the Day: “I want to be the Torch, if anyone asks. … Hultzen would be the Jessica Alba, we’ll go with Taijuan as the stretchy guy. And The Thing could be Pax. We’ll go with that.” – Brandon Maurer after being asked if the Big Three should be called the Fantastic Four.
Next: The Mariners are off on Wednesday, though Jeremy Bonderman will pitch in a Minor League game at 1 p.m. at the Peoria Complex. Jon Garland gets the start Thursday night against the Cubs at Peoria Stadium, with Erasmo Ramirez to follow.
Here’s is the link to tonight’s boxscore.
Here’s a full story on tonight’s game.
Greg Johns
