Padres have fun in the sun, Mariners less so, lose 12-4

It’s a good thing these games don’t count

In what is becoming an annoyingly familiar pattern this spring, the Mariners lost today’s spring training contest against the Padres by a score of 12-4. Once again, the pitching depth struggled to keep the Padres off the board, surrendering runs to both the A and B squad versions of the Friars.

Yu Darvish held the Mariners hitters mostly in check, striking out the side in the first and adding another three strikeouts over his innings of work. Cade Marlowe got to him with his first home run of the spring, though, punishing a rare Darvish mistake in the middle of the plate for a two-run shot:

But as has so often been the case this spring, that lead would be short-lived, as the Padres got to Mariners starter Luis Castillo with an RBI single from Tim Locastro, scoring Tyler Wade, who had walked and stole second, before Fernando Tatís Jr. crushed a mistake pitch of his own, giving the Padres a 3-2 lead which they would pad healthily over the next several innings. Castillo worked around 92-93 with his fastball and also mixed in a fair number of sliders and changeups, which he seemed to lack a feel for, hitting his pitch count after just two innings when three had been hoped for, but he still recorded three strikeouts while also walking two.

Aside from Castillo, the Padres did the bulk of their run-scoring damage against two Mariners relievers: Carlos Vargas and Collin Snider. Vargas didn’t walk any batters, which is good, but he did hit two batters in his single inning of work, which is bad. He surrendered two runs on a double to Tyler Wade and an RBI single to Tim Locastro, the nine-hole hitter who had a three-hit, three-RBI day. Ouch. To be fair, there wasn’t a lot of hard contact made against Vargas: only Wade’s double was hit hard, the other two hits against him were ground ball singles. Per the broadcast, Vargas was working with a fastball only around 94 and throwing a good number of sliders; maybe this is a tactic to help rein in his command in the early going as he ramps up this spring.

Collin Snider also struggled in his inning, giving up a two-run home run to Ha-Seong Kim that was crushed before surrendering four straight hits. By the time he walked off the mound for Blas Castano to take over, the Padres held a 10-3 lead. They’d add another two runs while the Mariners would scratch just one more across for a 12-4 final.

The game was bad. But here are some good things that happened:

• Josh Rojas had a solid day at the plate, working a walk and reaching on a throwing error by Darvish that was generously ruled a base hit, but where he really impressed was in the field, holding down third base with some solid defense, including starting a sparkling double play on a ball that came to him on a high hop. Rojas’s defense at second was average to above-average, but he definitely looks comfortable at third, something I was worried about coming into the spring.
• Jonatan Clase manufactured a run basically on his own, leading off the fifth inning by hitting a fly ball single, swiping second on a wild pitch, and then scoring on a pair of productive outs. Blake Hunt’s RBI groundout went to the left side of the infield and it’s possible a different runner than Clase might have been an easy out at the plate, but the Padres didn’t even bother trying to nail the speedster, going for the easy out at first instead.
• Short king Blas Castano took over for Snider after the Padres had scored three runs and struck out both batters he faced, showing a little emotion as he came off the mound. Castano, released by the Yankees organization in 2023 before landing with Seattle, is sneakily one of my faves.
• This game also featured former Mariner Matt Festa, who’s landed with the Padres. He still wears the stirrups, but they’re yellow now. Festa struggled with his command, walking three in his inning, but the Mariners couldn’t cash in any of those free passes. This isn’t exactly a “good” thing that happened in the game but it’s still nice to see Festa has caught on with another team.
• Youth brigade: One fun thing about early spring training games is getting to see all the kids. In the seventh inning, first-rounder Jonny Farmelo hit a stand-up triple off Woo-Suk Go, showing some good wheels and heads-up baserunning as he pedaled around the bases. Cole Young would then bring him home by driving a pitch up the middle. In that same inning, Michael Arroyo had a productive at-bat, moving the runner to third with a deep flyout, and Lazaro Montes also got to take an at-bat (he popped out). Young also made a nifty play deep in the hole behind second base to throw out a runner at first. In the ninth inning, Arroyo worked a two-out walk to bring up Montes, who was caught looking against veteran reliever Steven Wilson to end the game. Spring! It’s a time for learning.
• Reid VanScoter had the tough job of mopping up the final two innings and actually performed better than any other pitchers on the day, thoroughly baffling the Padres hitters with his bendy stuff. He allowed just one hit, a seeing-eye single, and struck out four. We love a weird lefty around these parts.
• The Mariners have a much-needed off day tomorrow, their first of the spring.