Mariners Observations: Evan White’s slam, Jarred Kelenic’s return and relief standouts

The Mariners fell to the Angels 7-4 in a seven-inning Cactus League contest at the Peoria Sports Complex on Wednesday night (box score here).

Last time: Julio Rodríguez leads way in Mariners’ offensive explosion

Let’s take a look at what stood out and what you need to know.

The arms

It was a rough go for starter Chris Flexen, who threw three innings, giving up six runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out four. His command early on was off, and that cost him in the first with eight Angels hitters coming to the plate and three scoring.

In the second inning, Mariners manager Scott Servais utilized the new spring training rule where a starter can be replaced by a reliever but brought back out the next inning. Taylor Guerrieri got the final out of the second, and Flexen seemed to settle down a bit after that, pitching a scoreless third and striking out Brandon Marshall, the final batter he faced, on a 93 mph fastball.

“Obviously Flex wasn’t as sharp early in the game as he was in his first couple starts,” said Servais. “I give him credit for hanging in there. He did not have his best stuff or command but he’ll learn from it and move forward.”

On a better note, Kendall Graveman took over for Flexen with one out in the fourth and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. It was a different look from Graveman on the hill, as rather than leading with the 97 mph-plus sinker that was a strength of his as a starter, he leaned more on his slider and changeup, which is exactly what the Mariners wanted to see from him.

“He profiles differently as a reliever,” Servais explained. “As a starter you have a chance to establish your fastball command and work through things in a game. You come in as a reliever, you really want to throw your best pitches. We really like his slider, it’s something he bought into late in the year last year, changing the pitch, and we’ve tried to convince him it’s a real weapon. I think he is starting to see some results from it.”

Rafael Montero also impressed with a quick 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, his second straight strong performance.

“He was really, really sharp tonight,” said Servais. “Located the fastball, got the breaking ball where he wanted to. He makes it look easy out there.”

The bats

The Mariners ran out a lineup that looked close to what could be the regular lineup. While they did manage to follow Flexen’s rocky first inning with a long inning of their own against Angels starter Jose Quintana, they only got the pitch count up and came away empty handed.

The Mariners came up with just four hits, with one of them scoring all four of their runs. Evan White checked in with his first home run of the spring, a grand slam that had an exit velocity of 106 mph.

There's a pot of gold at the end of this one. ☘️ pic.twitter.com/3k81kmcBzl

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 18, 2021

White, who was the designated hitter Wednesday, has been in the lineup each of the past four days in hopes that the extra playing time would help him find his timing, and Servais was happy to see the results.

“We started to see it come last night,” Servais said. “His at-bats were good tonight and obviously squared that ball up. He had some good swings tonight, he got his swing off which is good to see. We’re starting to see the timing and confidence come together here.”

The return

Jarred Kelenic saw game action for the first time since suffering a left knee adductor strain on March 5, replacing Taylor Trammell in left field in the fifth inning. Kelenic walked on four pitches in his first plate appearance and recorded the final out of the game in his second, grounding out to second base.

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