Nine-hole hitter Mike Ford clubbed a two-run double during a three-run fourth inning to help the Seattle Mariners hold off the San Diego Padres 3-2 as the spring training schedule began Friday afternoon in Peoria, Ariz.
Padres star third baseman Manny Machado, who recently criticized some of Major League Baseball’s new rules, went down as the first player to commit a pitch clock violation. Machado was not in the batter’s box and ready to face Mariners starter Robbie Ray within eight seconds, and the umpire called timeout and assessed a first strike on Machado’s count.
Machado went on to reach base on a single in that at-bat.
The Padres scored two runs in the eighth but could not complete the comeback. Reserve shortstop Jackson Merrill went 3-for-3 with a run for San Diego.
Royals 6, Rangers 5
Tucker Bradley smacked a walk-off solo home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth to deliver Kansas City a win over Texas in Surprise, Ariz.
Justin Foscue’s homer in the seventh helped the Rangers come back from a 5-3 deficit. The Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino and recent Texas signing Robbie Grossman also homered.
–Field Level Media
