Brandon Williamson Continues To Make His Case

 Also  Follow Reds on https://athlonsports.com/

Dateline: Goodyear, Arizona

Brandon Williamson walked out the gate to the clubhouse in left field after his outing against the team that drafted him and greeted some of the pitchers he competed with in the minor leagues.

George Kirby the Seattle Mariners opposing pitcher on the day. Emerson (Hancock), Reeves (Martin).

"It was pretty much our whole rotation, when we were coming up," Williamson said.

What are the Mariners missing now? 

Williamson continued a successful spring. He pitched four strong innings, giving up two hits, coming off the bat of former St. Louis Cardinal, Brendan Donovan. The Mariners third baseman singled to open the game and Williamson issued his lone walk to Randy Arozarena. The big lefty retired seven in a row in front of Donovan's second hit. He retired the last five, the last two by strikeout.

"I filled it up. Early I was trying to figure out the change up and the slider too. As the game went on I got a little crisper. I just tried to fill up the zone and not worry about the results. That pretty much worked today," Williamson said. "I'm feeling stronger. I throw a lot of pitches, right? I feel like if I can get those five, six pitches over the plate, even if I'm not totally juiced up throwing as hard as I possibly can that day. I feel like I can get the job done."

"I worked quite a bit on my stretch. It is harder to go into the stretch, right away you're in it," Williamson said.

Terry Francona is having fun watching Williamson pitch.

"The first two guys got on, then he kind of locked it in," Francona said. "He really pitched well. That was fun to watch. It's been 15 months and he's crossing hurdles and there's going to be a lot of them. He's bouncing back. DJ (pitching coach Derek Johnson) said his side (sessions) have been good. He's doing a good job."

Matt McLain continued to sizzle in the Arizona sun. He singled on a slow roller up the third base line. He hit his sixth home run of the spring. He left the game hitting .553

Asked this morning what more he wanted to see from McLain. Terry Francona chuckled, "If he wants to hit .600 instead of .500. With the whole group you want them to feel as good as they can about themselves. There's never a perfect, normally there are a couple guys swinging the bat good, a couple guys really not and a few guys in the middle. By design nobody is playing nine (innings) but they've been playing back-to-back-to back. That's so they get some timing and some rhythm."

Sal Stewart must be feeling good. He is hitting .555 with an OPS of 1.100. Stewart was 1-for-2 with a walk against Seattle. Elly De La Cruz doubled in three at bats. He is at .294 with an OPS of 1.027.

The home run by McLain caused Francona's eyes to widen.

"I can't believe that ball went out. I have the worst view of the plate but it looked like. He hit a ball down and away. He's a strong shit, man."

Williamson left with a 2-0 lead but the Mariners tallied five runs against Pierce Johnson.

"The first hitter was really good. He ended up going full count and lost a guy on a breaking ball. Then it just got away. His stuff has been as consistent as anyone we've had all spring," Francona said.

Connor Phillips the former Mariner, struck out the three batters he faced.

"I was really happy to see that," Francona said. "He threw some fastballs with life through the zone. I love that."