Seattle Mariners blow five-run lead, lose 6-5 to Indians

The Seattle Mariners traveled to Goodyear today for a Cactus League matchup with the Cleveland Indians.

In their sixth official game of Spring Training, the Mariners sent out Mike Leake for his second start thus far. Leake was masterful in his three innings of work, allowing just one hit and striking out three.

The Indians’ starter, Adam Plutko, wasn’t as fortunate. The Mariners jumped on Plutko early, scoring five runs in the second inning.

It all started off with a solo blast from Daniel Vogelbach, who went 1-for-1 with the aforementioned home run and two walks on the day. Vogelbach was initially slated to be the Mariners’ designated hitter today but wound up at first base after Ryon Healy was scratched from the lineup with hamstring tightness.

Kyle Lewis continued his hot start to the Spring with a double that set things in motion for the second inning offensive explosion. Dylan Moore was subsequently hit by a pitch, then David Freitas pushed a single through to load the bases up for Shed Long.

Plutko then spiked a ball into Long’s foot, scoring a run. Tim Beckham followed that up with a single up the middle, easily bringing home Moore from third; Freitas attempted to score on the play as well but was thrown out at the plate.

The Mariners weren’t done yet. With two outs, Domingo Santana muscled a line drive into left field for a two-runs to cap off the five-run inning for the M’s. However, that would be it for Seattle’s offense on the day.

Pitching was full of ups and downs for the Mariners today. After Leake’s impressive performance, Hunter Strickland and Gerson Bautista followed up with a scoreless inning each. Strickland’s appearance was especially solid, notching back-to-back strikeouts of José Ramírez and Carlos Santana.

Things quickly went downhill afterward. In his second appearance of the Spring, Matt Festa was knocked around quite a bit. After getting the first hitter to ground out, Festa struggled with his command and was subject to a ton of hard contact.

Back-to-back RBI triples and a RBI single put the Indians back in it, down 5-3 going into the seventh inning.

The Indians would finish off their comeback with another three-run inning, all coming on one swing from Max Moroff. On the mound for the Mariners was Brandon Brennan, their Rule 5 draft pick from the Colorado Rockies. Brennan was unable to finish the inning, being replaced by Zac Grotz.

Offensively, the Mariners threatened to tie things up in the ninth after Joseph Rosa tripled with one out. But Kristopher Negrón struck out looking and Eric Filia tagged a ball that died right into the glove of Cleveland’s center fielder, cementing a 6-5 victory for the Indians.

The Mariners are now 3-2-1 in Cactus League play thus far. They’ll be back in Peoria tomorrow for a bout with the Chicago White Sox. Félix Hernandez will get the nod as he looks to bounce back from an ugly Spring debut last weekend. First pitch is at 12:10 PM PT and will be televised on ROOT Sports.