Big day all around
The Athletics came out on top of the Mariners today on the road, beating Seattle by a 8-5 final at Peoria Stadium.
The Athletics gave young righty Joey Estes the ball for today’s start. After making 24 starts for the A’s last year Estes entered camp firmly in competition for that fifth and final rotation slot. He did what he needed to do today, tossing two innings of ball. He made one bad pitch the entire afternoon, allowing a solo home run to Mariners first baseman Rowdy Tellez. One bad blemish doesn’t otherwise ruin a successful first outing of the spring for the young righty.
The bats meanwhile had to go up against Seattle’s own young righty in George Kirby. Much more established than Estes, Kirby looks good in the first inning before a pair of walks to start the second ended his day. One of those runs came around to score courtesy of an RBI single from Zack Gelof, his first hit of the spring.
The Athletics scored three more times in the next inning with a lot of help from the Mariners’ pitching. Two bases-loaded walks and a HBP brought in all three runs the good guys scored that inning.
Over the next six innings the A’s would put up another four runs against Seattle, including from Gelof’s second RBI single of the day. Infielder Logan Davidson also had an RBI knock, a double which is already his second of spring.
Back on the pitching side, fellow starter Mitch Spence took over for Estes after two and fired two shutout innings of his own. He was followed by Rule 5 Draft pick Noah Murdock, who tossed his second scoreless inning of the spring.
Murdock was followed by right-hander Jason Alexander, who provided two shutout innings of his own, and pitching prospect Mason Barnett was tasked with finishing it out. He had a scoreless eighth inning but got rocked for four runs in the ninth to make it a ballgame. He was able to nail down the win however, sealing the A’s third win of the spring.
The bats finally woke up! Gelof finally had a big day on offense and he was supported by his teammates throughout the lineup, including Lawrence Butler who had another hit today. Starters Joey Estes and Mitch Spence pitched well in their spring debuts and the club got a win. Fun day all around.
We do it all again tomorrow afternoon. Our opponent will be the San Diego Padres, with free agent acquisition Luis Severino set for the start. See you all then!