Diamondbacks 4, Mariners 2: Beautiful night in the neighborhood

Record: 15-4-1. Change on 2015: +3.

Arizona completed the split-squad sweep, sliding past the Mariners by a two-run margin at Peoria Stadium this evening, in front of 11,319 on a beautiful night for baseball. Evan Marzilli's triple in the sixth inning (below) proved the difference maker, bringing home two runs to break a 2-2 tie. While the victory - like all spring games - is meaningless, the Diamondbacks have a 3.5 game advantage at the top of the Cactus League standings, and their winning percentage trails only the 12-3 Nationals in all of pre-season baseball. Washington didn't play today, the Grapefruit League largely being washed out because, y'know, Florida sucks. :)

If the afternoon's game was a combination of unstoppable offense and near-impeccable pitching, this one dialed it back on both fronts, though Tyler Wagner performed quite respectably, especially compared to recent outings from potential fifth starters. He worked five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts, throwing a total of 72 pitches. The bullpen followed up with four scoreless frames: particularly good to see two of those coming from Josh Collmenter, who didn't allow any home-runs this time, though did give up two hits. Kaleb Fleck and Enrique Burgos worked the eighth and ninth, the latter striking out the side on 13 pitches.

Perhaps worthy of note, the top five in the Diamondbacks' order this evening staying in for the entire game, though with mixed results. Socrates Brito had two hits and a walk out of the lead-off spot, and Chris Owings reached twice, on a hit and a walk. Catcher Brett Hayes had a pair of hits before being replaced by Dan Rohlfing. Peter O'Brien started at first-base, going 1-for-4 and was apparently solid there. Jake Lamb committed the evening's only error for Arizona, though Nick Ahmed was picked off second in the ninth. But not bad, considering we were facing King Felix for four inning, getting three hits and a walk off him, including Marzilli's RBI groundout in the second.

Tomorrow sees Shelby Miller get the start, as the full D-backs squad will be taking on the Cincinnati Reds, not too far away from SnakePit Towers, at Goodyear Stadium. 1:05pm Arizona time is your first pitch, with the game being broadcast on the radio by Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.