France has solid day, but Mariners fall short

Prior to the Mariners’ first road game of the season, manager Scott Servais said his team’s younger talent has been tested to start the 2021 campaign.

Ty France has done well against those challenges, and he continues to swing a hot bat for Seattle.

France came into Thursday’s road-series opener against the Twins slashing .318/.444/.545 and fresh off a night where his 11-pitch walk sparked a late-inning comeback win.

As the Mariners designated hitter, France went 2-for-4 with an RBI in a 10-2 loss to the Twins.

France drove in catcher Luis Torrens in the third inning with a single to center field off of Minnesota starter José Berríos, who threw France a sinker that ran in on his hands.

The hot start seems to be a continuation of the strong Spring Training that France had. The former San Diego Padre slashed .327/.421/.714 and drove in 11 runs in 19 Cactus League games.

Torrens also enjoyed a nice day at the plate on Thursday. The 24-year-old catcher went 3-for-4, which included a ninth-inning double.

France's RBI gave the Mariners an early 1-0 lead in the third inning, before the Twins eventually got to Seattle starter Marco Gonzales for seven earned runs in his 4 1/3 innings of work.

“We played kind of a strange game today,” Servais said. “The momentum switches were pretty dramatic.”

France’s second hit of the day came in the fifth inning and advanced right fielder Mitch Haniger to second base, but Haniger was picked off by Berríos in the next at-bat.

“I thought we had a chance to get back in it against Berríos as well,” Servais said. “[Haniger] got picked off on a really good pickoff play by those guys at second base.”

Prior to Thursday’s game, Servais emphasized that the early tests against teams that are expected to be postseason contenders serve as challenges for his team’s younger players.

France, a former San Diego State Aztec, has shown he’s capable of these early season tests Servais mentioned.

He has hit safely in all but one of Seattle’s seven games, and he has a .990 OPS to start the 2021 season. He also leads the Mariners in multiple offensive categories including: RBIs (4), hits (9), and average (.346).

France also improved his on-base percentage to .452, and he has reached base 14 times in his last 31 plate appearances.

France had the chance to come around to score in the third inning with the bases loaded, but first baseman José Marmolejos, who hit his first home run of the season in the loss, lined out to right fielder Max Kepler on a ball that had a 104.2 mph exit velocity.

Servais said the lineout was one of the early factors that changed the flow of the ballgame for Seattle.

“We had the bases loaded and [Marmolejos] hits the line drive right at the right fielder, and he makes a good catch,” Servais said. “[The Twins] come back and go to work on [Gonzales], so it kind of shifted the momentum at that point."