Mariners notebook: Walker’s start highlights strong pitching day in win

PEORIA, Ariz. – A quick rundown of what we saw and heard today, starting with the a 4-3 win over the Indians that had plenty of good things to be seen.

Taijuan Walker put in another solid performance, facing the minimum in three innings. He struck out four batters, three of them on three pitches. He used all of his pitches, but it was the fastball that he went to with two strikes.

“I told Z (catcher Mike Zunino) before, we are just going to go right after them. Attack with the fastball, try to get ahead early and we did,” Walker said in the clubhouse after his outing. “If I can locate the fastball it definitely opens everything else for my slider, changeup and curveball.”

He was encouraged by the new slider he threw.

“I threw three sliders for swing and misses including the last pitch,” he said, referencing the third strike Jordan Smith took for strikeout No. 4.

His changeup, which came on strong at the end of last year, was working too. It is a pitch he is getting more and more comfortable with.

“It’s about just trusting it,” he said. “Just trusting it and throwing it. Before I was trying to place it and make it move, now I just have to grab my grip, go out there, trust it and throw it.”

A teammate told me recently that Walker was trying to throw a changeup like Felix, higher velocity with good movement. Walker gave a sheepish laugh when I told him him this. His changeup is different and has a different grip from Felix’s but he still studies him as there are things he can learn from the ace.

“When he throws it, what count he throws it in, where he locates it in that count, when he is throwing it for strikes and when he is trying to bounce it,” Walker said. “When he is pitching, that’s what I am watching.”

The strikeouts didn’t end when Walker left the game. Tyler Olson, who impressed in his first outing by retiring six straight Dodgers (all big leaguers), continued his streak striking out Jason Kipnis, Yan Gomes and Michael Brantley in the fourth inning. You have to start to wonder if the lefty, a Mariners seventh round pick out of Gonzaga in the 2013 draft, has made his way into the conversation for the second lefty in the pen spot despite the fact that he is a starter.

“Olson did a nice job,” manager Lloyd McClendon said after the game. “He’s a little funky, he’s a little different, he’s a little interesting.”

The skipper was asked if he thought Olson could pitch at the big league level with just one full year of minor league ball under his belt.

“I don’t know,” he said. “He’s in the mix. So is (David) Rollins, so is (Lucas) Luetge, (Joe) Saunders. We have got to see what all of those guys are. It’s early, they are all going to get opportunities. We will see what happens.”

In all, Mariners pitchers struck out 15 Cleveland Indians hitters, with Mark Lowe putting an exclamation point on the day by striking out the side in the ninth.

There was offense as well, with Brad Miller hitting a pair of home runs and Mike Zunino checking in with his first homer of the spring. Youth came through once again as Ketel Marte hit a triple to lead off the bottom of the ninth with the game tied, and D.J. Peterson following with a deep sacrifice fly to right for the game winner. Plenty of good to see.

“We have a a lot of talent in this organization, a lot of depth,” McClendon said when asked how to sum up the day. “The kid (Richard) Vargas came over today (from minor league camp) – very, very impressive. That’s a big arm. Tremendous arm. We have got a lot of depth. This organization is heading in the right direction.”

Notes

• The team has signed RHP Kevin Correia to a minor league contract. The 12 year veteran pitched for Minnesota and the Dodgers last year.

• Robinson Cano, who left camp Sunday to head home to the Domincan Republic after the passing of his grandfather, is expected back in camp Friday and will most likely return to games Saturday.

• Tom Wilhelmsen, who has been slow to start because of early spring training back problems, is scheduled to see his first game action Wednesday.

• As part of their stadium lease agreement the Mariners are required to report their annual profits or losses to the Public Facilities District. Greg Johns of MLB.com gives a good explanation of the agreement and also reveals that the Mariners showed an $11.6 million profit in 2014 according to the report.

• Felix Hernandez is scheduled to make his 2015 Cactus League debut tomorrow against the Rockies. Roenis Elias will follow him, with Dominic Leone also scheduled to get work.

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