Drayer: Gonzales sharp, Rodríguez provides highlight in Mariners’ spring opener

The Mariners originally planned to throw minor leaguers in the first couple of Cactus League games to give those in big league camp an opportunity to further build up.

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Under normal circumstances, pitchers would be in camp for a minimum 12 days before the first game, with most starters arriving in Arizona and throwing a bullpen before the official reporting day. With the MLB imposed-lockout, that was not possible this spring.

With the report date and first game separated by just four work days, it was a bit of a surprise to have Mariners manager Scott Servais reverse course and announce earlier this week that Marco Gonzales would start the opener with the hope of throwing three innings.

“I told Woody and Skip when I got down here, no more lives (throwing against hitters),” said Gonzales. “I’ve thrown four lives already. I want to get out of the cage, off the turf mound. Get me in a game as soon as possible because that’s the best way we are going to get our work in, so the soonest I could get on a five-day plan. Let’s just go.”

Gonzales convinced Servais he was ready to go and rewarded his skipper with three solid innings allowing just two hits, one unearned run, and picking up a strikeout. After throwing 38 pitches in his three innings, he threw a few more in the bullpen as the plan was to get him above 50 pitches in his first outing.

“I thought Marco was pretty sharp,” said Servais. “They got some balls in play quickly, kept the pitch count down.”

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“I was trying to stay on normal dates because I was planning on 162 games,” Gonzales point out. “I didn’t want to leave myself three weeks for a full build up, so Feb. 14 I threw my first live as I normally would when we get down here the first week of camp. I didn’t want to be in a position where I felt rushed, and my arm felt great my body felt great so I just kept going.”

Gonzales said that he kept in touch with his fellow starters throughout the lockout and worked together to come up with a plan in how to build up not knowing how long of a spring training they would get or when it would begin.

“I think guys were wondering where are you going to be at when you report?” Gonzales said. “When are you coming down to Arizona? How many innings are you going to be able to throw beforehand? Where do we want to be at once camp starts? And I think the consensus was let’s try to be able to go out and throw two innings once we do start. Get to that point and maintain.”

With three of five starters returning and the fourth being the reigning Cy Young Award winner who no doubt knows a thing or two about preparation, the Mariners have an advantage in getting their rotation ready. On Day 1, Gonzales got the starters off to a good start.

As for the rest of the game, a 6-4 loss to the Padres. It was a messy affair with errors committed by Jarred Kelenic, Eugenio Suárez, Michael Stryffeler and Noelvi Marte.

“We’ve got things to work on, get the kinks out and go from there,” said Servais. “We just need to tighten things up. We didn’t play great defensively today and things like that which happens early in the spring.”

There was also one big highlight as Julio Rodríguez in his first at-bat of the spring pounced on an 0-2 hanging slider from Padres reliever Angel Felipe launching it out to left with an exit velocity of 117 mph.

Watch: Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez blasts huge home run in 1st spring AB

“It’s been very impressive,” said Servais. “A couple of good sliders he threw him and then he threw him a bad one and Julio didn’t miss it. It’s going to be fun to watch him grow as we go throughout the spring.”

With Philipe throwing 97-98, Rodríguez said he was looking fastball, but saw two sliders to start the at-bat.

“He didn’t throw me my pitch, two strikes you have got to compete. I was still looking for the fastball, but he definitely hanged another one. I was not about to let that one go,” said Rodríguez.

Rodríguez knows big league pitchers will look to challenge him with the breaking ball, he’s even seen a steady diet of breaking balls from Mariners pitchers in live BP’s. It is an approach he welcomes.

“I’m pretty comfortable hitting breaking balls,” he said. “I’m pretty comfortable taking close pitches, too. That has never been a problem for me.”

Rodríguez said he focused his offseason work on better pitch selection. The approach, simple.

“It’s not swing at the bad pitches,” he said. “Just look for the good ones. It starts everywhere. The flips, BP, lives. Just stick to my plan wherever I am.”

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