Mariners Game Recap: Prince Tai Dazzles, M’s Cage Cubs

The Seattle Mariners played great baseball under the lights on Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs in Peoria, AZ. Taijuan Walker (2-0, 0.00 ERA) tossed 6 shutout innings to pick up his second victory of the spring. Travis Wood (1-1, 4.19 ERA) was on the losing end for Chicago after allowing 3 runs across 5 innings of work. Dominic Leone gave up a couple runs in the 9^th inning, but managed to record his first save in Cactus League action.

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The Mariners jumped on Travis Wood in the bottom of the 1^st inning tonight. Rickie Weeks stung a line drive into right field to lead off the ballgame for the M’s. Weeks advanced to third base on a 1 out Robinson Cano single. A Nelson Cruz walk loaded the bases for the Mariners with just 1 out. Kyle Seager drove a fly ball deep to center field to cash in Weeks on a sacrifice fly. Seattle took a 1-0 lead into the top of the 2^nd inning.

Wednesday was Mike Zunino’s 24^th birthday, and Travis Wood gave Zuni his present in the bottom of the 5^th inning. Wood was very generous tonight, as he gave the birthday boy a giftwrapped hanging slider. Zunino literally broke the breaking ball, and deposited it into the berm out in right-center field. Zunino has had a fabulous spring, and tonight’s dinger was his fourth in Cactus League play. Seattle led 2-0 at this point.

The M’s were not finished in the 5^th inning. Austin Jackson leads the club in hits this spring, and he added a 2 out single to his tally this evening. Robby Cano laced a double into the right-center gap to score a sprinting AJ. Cano’s two-bagger gave the Mariners a 3 run lead heading to the top of the 6^th inning.

Dom Leone was called on to pitch the final frame for the Mariners. Leone struggled this evening, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits. Arismendy Alcantara led off the 9^th with a bloop single to center field. Matt Szczur followed up with a triple to center field, plating Alcantara. Szczur came in to score on a booted ground ball by shortstop Chris Mariscal. The Cubs were able to get within a run, but Leone shut the door just in time to earn the save

The entire box score can be found here.

Next: Prince Tai Hurls 6 Scoreless Frames