The bats were hot early in the first of two Mariners scrimmages this week
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners are trying to stay sharp through their wild card-round bye through the playoffs, and the first step for staying fresh for the American League Divisional Series was the first of two scrimmages on Wednesday at T-Mobile Park.
Wednesday's scrimmage was a loose, five-inning intersquad game. Neither lineup stuck to a specific order and the team didn't stick to three outs per half-inning. But, according to manager Dan Wilson, it was exactly what he was looking to get out of his club.
"I think all-in-all, it was a day where we got a lot accomplished," Wilson said in a news conference after the scrimmage Wednesday. "I think this is what we were looking to do. When you talk about getting pitchers some work off the mound, getting guys some at-bats, getting a chance to run some situations during the game, getting a sense for what the sunlight can be like here at T-Mobile at certain times of the day, just understanding a lot of the playoff picture that's ahead of that — I think from that standpoint, it was awesome."
Here's more takeaways and notes from Wednesday's scrimmage:
Mariners sluggers get going early
Seattle was separated into two squads Wednesday: the "home" team in white; and the "away" team in green.
The away team came out victorious 6-1. Three of those runs came via a home run hit to left field by third baseman Eugenio Suarez in the top of the first.
Suarez hit the bomb off the home team's starting pitcher, Emerson Hancock.
The home team's only run came via a solo homer in the bottom of the first hit by catcher and American League MVP candidate Cal Raleigh.
Both Suarez and Raleigh came just shy of historic home run marks during the regular season. Suarez finished with 49 homers. He was one away from being the first Venezuelan-born player in history to reach 50 home runs.
Raleigh finished with a major-league leading 60 homers, which was two away from tying and three from setting the single-season American League record.
"Coming out early, swinging the bat well," Wilson said. "I think just getting some rest, a couple of days to take a deep breath, I think has helped. Getting some (batting practice) yesterday (to) get the blood flowing again — and these guys came out today with some pretty good intensity."
Victor Robles hit an RBI single in the third, J.P. Crawford scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and Nick Raposo scored on an RBI sacrifice fly hit by Miles Mastrobuoni in the fifth for the eventual final.
Bullpen shows some good and bad
The pitchers in Wednesday's scrimmage were all bullpen arms, and it was a fairly mixed bag of good and bad.
Hancock and taxi squad pitcher Collin Snider were the only two hurlers to pitch two innings.
Hancock allowed a single, a home run and walked two batters in the first. He bounced back in the second and struck out the side (Crawford, Randy Arozarena, Mitch Garver) in order in the second.
Left-handed pitcher Gabe Speier allowed the run-scoring single to Robles, albeit in a manufactured situation where Colt Emerson was placed on second base. All-Star closer Andres Munoz threw the wild pitch that brought home Crawford.
Munoz also fanned a batter and walked two.
Eduard Bazardo started the game for the home team and allowed two hits, including Raleigh's homer, and struck out two.
Hall of Famer spotted
Ichiro Suzuki, the 2025 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, played in right field for the home team, next to Rodriguez.
Suzuki, who often is at T-Mobile Park shagging balls in the outfield in batting practice, was hardly tested. But the still had one opportunity to show off the arm.
In the top of the third, Suzuki caught a fly ball hit by Garver. The catch drew audible cheers from the 5,000 fans in attendance and kept Emerson, the Mariners' top prospect and a player on the postseason taxi squad, at second. Robles hit his RBI single to Suzuki the next at-bat, which brought home Emerson.
"I was at second base, one out ... then flyout to Ichiro," Emerson said in a post-scrimmage interview. "And there's one out, so you got to get off the bag and not tag up. But I turned to (Cole Young) and I was like 'I should have tagged up. I should have tested the arm.' It's super cool."
Up next
Seattle will play the second of the two scheduled scrimmages at 5 p.m. PT on Thursday at T-Mobile Park.
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