Logan Gilbert strikes out four in the 6-2 loss

The Seattle Mariners took on the Los Angeles Angeles yesterday in Arizona, and Logan Gilbert made his 2021 Spring Training debut. Fans are excited to see Gilbert in a T-Mobile Park soon and they got a sneak preview of what they might see during the regular season.

Although it is a Spring Training game, the Angels didn’t give Gilbert a free pass yesterday. The AL West division rivals started their top guys to square off against the Mariners prospect.

Logan Gilbert’s first inning

Logan’s first inning couldn’t have been any better. He began the game by striking out David Fletcher, an underrated star.

Oh, and guess who’s on deck? Mike Trout, one of the best players in the game, if not the best. Logan Gilbert stepped up to the challenge and struck him out as well.

He got Trout out with a fastball on the outside corner, and Mike didn’t even argue with the umpire. To finish off the inning, he forced Shohei Ohtani to ground out to Donnie Walton.

Like I said, this couldn’t have been any better for the young right-hander.

Logan Gilbert’s second inning

His second inning didn’t go as well as his first, but he managed. Albert Pujols led off the inning with a double and then Justin Upton muscled a pitch off his hands for a bloop double.

Now with a runner on second base, Gilbert was able to strike out Dexter Fowler on a high fastball, forced Jose Iglesias to fly out, and struck out Taylor Ward for his fourth K of the day.

Gilbert’s line: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, and 4 K

Although he gave up a run, the four strikeouts stand out. Gilbert wasn’t facing the Angels “B” team. He faced one of the best players in baseball, a veteran legend in Albert Pujols, and a handful of solid players. I am so excited to see what Gilbert will do for the rest of the month and he might be a sleeper candidate for the Rookie of the Year if he gets an early-season call-up.

The rest of the Mariners game

The Mariners ended up losing 6-2 against the Angels and the bats were cold. The Mariners only put four hits on the scoreboard and two runs. One of those runs came from Ty France’s second home run of Spring Training.

The second run came in the top of the fourth inning after Cal Raleigh hit a triple to score Jose Marmolejos.

Luis Torrens was also back in action and got two at-bats. Kyle Lewis, Julio Rodriguez, Sam Haggerty, Jake Fraley, Donnie Walton, and Braden Bishop finished without a hit yesterday which is not good news.

The pitchers struggled as well. None of the Mariners relievers threw a scoreless inning. Two specific outings were especially concerning.

Aaron Fletcher gave up three hits and one run. Will Vest allowed two home runs in an inning.

Both Fletcher and Vest are players that I was excited about this year but that is looking rather bleak.