Diamondbacks 2, Mariners 1 at Salt River Fields
Notable
The Mariners couldn’t push across the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth and couldn’t prevent Arizona from winning it in walkoff fashion.
In his second inning of work, right-hander Blas Castaño allowed a one-out single. Manager Dan Wilson called on Tyler Cleveland to work out of the inning. But the submarine-style pitcher couldn’t quite finish it. He struck out the first batter he faced, but issued a walk to push the winning run into scoring position. Adrian Rodriguez-Jimenez was able to get enough of a 3-2 sweeper to a bloop single into shallow center field to score the game-winning run.
Seattle’s lone run came in the fifth inning when Rhylan Thomas singled home Connor Joe.
“We’re just not getting the timely hitting right now,” Wilson said.
Brendan Donovan had two more hits. He is now 9 for 18 this spring.
Donovan had one of the best plays in the game. On an infield popout that was heading for the third-base stands, he fought the sun, pushed on the protective net while making the catch and falling into it. He also had the awareness to make sure the runners didn’t advance on the play after the catch.
“He’s just a guy that’s gonna play hard,” Wilson said. “He just plays hard. And it doesn’t matter where he’s gonna be on the field, he’s gonna give you a good effort, and that was just a straight effort play. There’s a lot of things kind of happening at the same time, and his concentration was great to get the ball, land in the net and then not fall too far into there where it allows another base for the runners.”
Player of the game
Bryan Woo pitched four innings, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Woo struck out the first four batters he faced, establishing his fastball early and using it to get ahead of hitters.
“Much better today, just getting ahead of hitters and being in better counts,” Woo said. “That was my brand of baseball right there. That’s exactly what it needs to look like. It felt good to keep inching closer to that.”
Quotable
“Really good outing for Bryan. He established the fastball early and his sweeper against lefties was particularly effective. He really kept them in check for the first four innings.” — Wilson
On tap
The Mariners return to the Peoria Sports Complex on Tuesday afternoon to host the Kansas City Royals. Right-hander Cooper Criswell will make the start for Seattle with right-handers Michael Rucker, Cole Wilcox and Casey Legumina and lefty Robinson Ortiz all scheduled to pitch. KC will start lefty Cole Ragans. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. PT. The game will be livestreamed on mariners.com and the MLB.TV app. There will be a live radio broadcast on the MLB app and Seattle Sports 710-AM.
Video highlights
Boxscore