Mariners Win Ten-Inning Thriller, But Ji-Man Choi Goes Down
Baseball is here! It didn’t seem real until Taijuan Walker‘s first pitch to Cameron Maybin, but now that the first game’s over with, it’s getting a little easier to breathe the spring air. Baseball’s back. Seattle Mariners baseball. And the season – or pre-season, rather – even started with a Mariners win.
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Not only was this the first Mariners game of the year, it was the first extra-innings Mariners game of the year. The M’s and Padres took ten innings to complete their first spring contest, with the Mariners earning themselves a walkoff victory. But that walkoff came with a cost.
Two outs, top of the ninth, Mariners leading 3-2. Tyler Smith, allegedly a Mariners shortstop prospect, fields a batted ball and airmails it in the general direction of first baseman Ji-Man Choi. Choi wanted to catch the ball and end the game. He leaped, did not catch the ball, the tying run scored, and upon landing broke his fibula.
It was a complete disaster. Choi’s a real prospect and someone who could have an impact on the big league team as soon as this year. That’s all on hold right now, as he was carted off the field and will obviously miss a pretty significant chunk of time. First spring training game of the year, man. Such a bummer. Get well soon, Ji-Man.
Taijuan Walker allowed a leadoff single but was otherwise brilliant, most notably buckling Matt Kemp for a first inning strikeout. He didn’t really look like he was pitching a spring training game, honestly, and the outing was impressive enough to conjure up thoughts of him emerging into an ace. It’s the first day of spring games, and everyone’s as good now as they possibly can be. In our eyes, that is.
Jesus Montero had himself a day, going 2-for-2 at the plate and making a bonafide athletic play or two in the field. Like, plays that he physically could not have made a year ago. We’re talking stretching, bending, reaching… weird to see him play like that. It was pretty neat, and absolutely encouraging.
The other guy who really stood out today was D.J. Peterson, who homered off of Jason Lane in the bottom of the first. Peterson’s a stud, and if anyone dared to forget, well, they sure were reminded by his big blast. He came close to ending the game in the regulation with an almost-over-the-fence blast in the ninth, as well. Peterson came to the plate five times today – expect to see a lot of him this spring.
Walk-off win! Walk-off win! Going up against heated rival someone named Tayron Guerrero, Tyler Marlette singled to lead off the tenth. Jordy Lara popped out, bringing up Patrick Kivlehan (who we’re also probably going to see a lot of this spring). Kivlehan laced a single, which Rymer Liriano misplayed to the tune of allowing the winning run. Kivlehan made it to third, Marlette scored, and the Mariners won. Undefeated! THEY MAY NEVER LOSE!
There was a game today, a Seattle Mariners game. This here recap is proof of that. The M’s won, and tomorrow they’ll play again. It probably won’t be as fun, given that there won’t be a Ji-Man Choi around and given that spring games stop being fun pretty much right away. But this was legitimate fun, injury aside, and it just feels so good to finally be back to the daily baseball routine. Go Mariners, today and all days.