Mariners bounce back from clunker loss with three homers in win vs. Brewers

Mariners 6, Brewers 1 at American Family Fields

Notable

After throwing out a “clunker” performance in a loss on Saturday, the Mariners bounced back with a solid 6-1 victory over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon.

In front of a crowd 6,164, most of which were cheering for the Mariners, Seattle hitters ripped three homers in the game and the pitching staff carried a shutout into the bottom of ninth before finally giving up a run.

The Mariners got a solid start from Chris Flexen, who worked three scoreless innings while allowing two hits with a walk and a strikeout.

He got plenty of run support. Teoscar Hernandez had two-run single in the third inning and Cooper Hummel smashed a two-run homer against the team that drafted him out of the University of Portland in the fourth inning for a 4-0 lead.

The Mariners got scoreless relief work from Paul Sewald, Diego Castillo, Chris Clarke and Brennan Bernardino over five innings. The Brewers scored a run late off Nick Margevicius to avoid being shut out.

Player of the game

While the Mariners are being cautious in not wanting overhype the early success of Jarred Kelenic, perhaps a bit wary of mistakes made when he debuted in 2021, it’s getting more difficult to downplay what he’s doing.

The once top prospect had a pair of hits, including his fourth homer of the spring. Facing Brewers top reliever Devin Williams in the fifth inning, Kelenic worked a 2-0 count and took advantage of a fastball down the middle. The result was majestic blast over the batter’s eye in center field.

“That’s against really good reliever. It’s an All-Star reliever, who has a really good changeup. The key to it is Jarred got in a good count. He didn’t get too anxious up there. He got a good pitch and put a really good swing on it. He hit the tar out of that ball.”

Quotable

“Flex was really sharp again today. He had the changeup in the strike zone. It’s something he struggled with last year. He’s been focused on it this spring and he did it today. All of our guys threw ball well today. We hit a few home runs. We swung the bats well. It was a good ballgame.”

On tap

The Mariners will be back at Peoria Stadium to host the Chicago Cubs. Right-hander Luis Castillo is scheduled to make his second start of the spring. Also scheduled to pitch are right-handers Bryce Miller, Ryder Ryan and Travis Kuhn along with lefties Gabe Speier and Tayler Saucedo. Chicago will start right-hander Hayden Wesneski. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. The game will be televised by Marquee Sports and streamed MLB TV. The game will have a live radio broadcast on mariners.com.

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