Cleveland Indians Wednesday Recap: Indians come back to beat Mariners (again) 8-5

Box Score

The Indians played a road spring training game today, and that usually means most of the veterans stay at home. I'm not completely up on the Phoenix-area geography, but I'm guessing today's road trip meant a somewhat lengthy bus ride (though compared to the Grapefruit League it wasn't that bad). The Tribe lineup had two players (Ryan Raburn and Lonnie Chisenhall) who are likely to be on the Opening Day roster, with the starting pitcher (Travis Banwart) likely to be one of the first cuts of the spring.

The game started like you'd think, with the Mariners (who had mostly regulars in their lineup) jumping all over the Indians early. Banwart gave up a leadoff home run to Abraham Almonte, a double to Kyle Seager, and a single to Robinson Cano. Banwart didn't get out of the first inning, presumably because of pitch counts, and Nick Hagadone allowed all three of inherited runners to score. By the time the inning was over, the Mariners led 4-0.

But things turned around after that. The rest of the Tribe pitchers (Colt Hynes, Scott Atchison, Bryan Shaw, David Aardsma, Blake Wood, Austin Adams, and Josh Outman) held the Mariners to a single unearned run the rest of the way. And later in the game the offense got going. The Indians score four runs in the seventh and took the lead in the top of the ninth (included in that outburst was a Francisco Lindor(!) double and a Carlos Moncrief(!!) triple).

Of course, given that the Indians were playing the Mariners you should have been expecting late-inning dramatics.

Next up: the Indians welcome the Chicago Cubs to Goodyear. Gametime is 3:05 PM Eastern.