Ryan McMahon shows off with bat and glove in Rockies win over Mariners

The Colorado Rockies defeated the Seattle Mariners 9-6 in a game that featured a few reunions and more than its fair share of offense. Two promising youngsters for the Rockies showed why fans are so excited about them, The Wolf of Blake Street made a solid spring debut, and the battle for backup catcher remained hotly contested.

Turning Point: Drew Butera 3-run homer

It was a back and forth affair through the first five innings up until catcher Drew Butera put the Rockies on top for good with the biggest swing of the day, a three-run wall-scraping home run in the sixth. It was a low sinking liner that just cleared the wall in left, but they all count. Butera is having a nice spring so far, hitting .429 in the early going.

Player of the Game: Ryan McMahon

In the first inning, RyMac hit a ball that flew over the centerfield fence and almost over the building beyond, bouncing on top of it and nearly into the next neighborhood. There is no Statcast for these games but my eye tests tells me it went approximate 5,280 feet. In the next inning defensively, he made one of the best diving catches of his young career, showcasing increased comfortability at second base.

In his next at-bat he walked, and the one after that he hit a ball so hard he nearly took Garrett Hampson’s head off between first and second. It hit the outfield grass almost immediately but had so much velocity it still rolled far enough into the gap for McMahon to take second. Nice day at the ballpark.

Runner Up: Sam Hilliard

Wanting, apparently, to remind everyone that McMahon is not the only lefty whose power promise is perpetually eye-popping, Sam Hilliard hit a two-run, opposite field, left-on-left home run in the fourth. It was a pure muscle shot.

Stat of the Game: Phillip Diehl – 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 K

In a contest where pitchers had a hard time keeping runners off the bases and runs off the board, lefty reliever Phillip Diehl did both. He pitched a clean 1.2 innings with three strikeouts. So far this spring, he has faced 10 batters and punched out seven of them. He’s allowed one hit and not allowed a walk or a run.

Diamond Details

• In the fourth inning, Ubaldo Jimenez faced off against Carlos Gonzalez in a reunion of the guy who shoulda been MVP in 2010 and the guy who shoulda been Cy Young in 2010
• Bret Boswell struck out twice to lower his batting average to .533 but he made a fantastic play in centerfield, cutting off a ball in the gap and firing into second base to nail the runner
• Jon Gray pitched two innings and allowed a run on a pair of hits in his spring debut
• After getting knocked around in his last appearance, Carlos Estevez picked up the save in dominant fashion, striking out one in a quick and perfect inning

Final Thoughts

Ryan McMahon and Sam Hilliard are big strong boys.

Up Next

The Rockies take on the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at 1:10.