PEORIA, Ariz. – Mike Leake threw 2.0 solid innings in his spring debut, and Andrew Romine collected 2 hits for the second day in a row, but the Mariners allowed 3 runs in the final two innings of a 5-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox in front of a crowd of 5,107 on Saturday afternoon at the Peoria Sports Complex.

The White Sox plated the first run of the game in the top of the 4^th after a double and a single off Chase De Jong to start the inning, followed by a sacrifice fly.

The Mariners answered right back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 4^th. After Taylor Motter led off with a double, Gordon Beckham drew a one-out walk and Mike Marjama was hit by a pitch to load the bases for pinch-hitter Braden Bishop. The University of Washington product lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Motter with the Mariners first run of the contest. With two outs, Andrew Romine laced a two-run single to center field, giving the Mariners a 3-1 lead.

Chicago drew within 3-2 with an unearned run in the top of the 5^th and added two runs in the 8^th off Mike Morin and 1 run in the 9^th against Nick Rumbelow to complete the comeback.

Leake worked 2.0 scoreless frames, allowing just 1 hit. De Jong tossed 2.0 innings in relief, allowing 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 1. Casey Lawrence followed with 2.0 innings in relief and allowed an unearned run on 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Johendi Jiminian pitched 1.0 inning, allowing 1 hit and striking out 1. Morin took the loss after allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out 2 in 1.0 inning of work. Rumbelow allowed 1 run on 3 hits with 1 strikeout in 0.2 innings pitched. Minor league call-up Darin Gillies retired the only batter he faced.

The Mariners (1-1) return to Cactus League play tomorrow (Sunday, February 25) hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers at 12:10 PT/1:10 MT at Peoria Stadium. The game will be broadcast in the Seattle area on 710 ESPN Seattle and the Mariners Radio Network. It will also be televised live in HD on ROOT Sports NW. Left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales is scheduled to start for the Mariners against Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw.

LINESCORE                   1 2 3        4 5 6     7 8 9               R       H      E   

WHITE SOX                    0 0 0       1 1 0     0 2 1     –        5      10      3

MARINERS                     0 0 0       3 0 0     0 1 0     –        3      10      2

W – Gomez (1-0); L – Morin (0-1); SV – Volstad (1)

CWS – Santiago, House (3), Dunning (4), Cedeno (6), Gomez (7), Volstad (8) and Castillo, Collins (6)

SEA – Leake, De Jong (3), Lawrence (5), Jiminian (7), Morin (8), Rumbelow (9), Gillies (9) and Marjama, Freitas (6)

Home Runs – CWS: None; SEA: None

Attendance – 5,107             Time – 3:11

For more information, please contact the Seattle Mariners baseball information department at (206) 346-4000. More information on Seattle’s roster is also available online at www.mariners.com. All Mariners news releases, game notes, statistics and multimedia files are also available by visiting the Mariners Virtual Press Box at www.MarinersMedia.com.

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