Mariners starter Justin Dunn was ‘juiced up’ to face Mike Trout and the Angels

Two words ran through Justin Dunn’s mind when he found out he was scheduled to pitch against the Angels’ menacing lineup Wednesday afternoon at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

“Let’s go.”

The young Seattle Mariners starter embraced the challenge as his first true test this spring. His adrenaline pumping, he worked through 1 2/3 innings, allowed one run on one hit, one walk, and struck out three batters.

He’ll take that outcome against one of the most threatening batting orders the majors has to offer this year.

“I mean, (I was) a little juiced up going out to face that lineup,” Dunn said. “You see the names of Mike Trout and (Anthony) Rendon and Justin Upton — everybody top-to-bottom in that lineup. It was super exciting to get out.

“It was, for me personally, my first real test to see how I could stack up against a full lineup, one through nine. I felt like I threw the ball pretty well. My misses for the most part weren’t huge misses, they were around the vicinity of where I wanted to go.”

Dunn kept his fastball down in the zone where he wanted it, was landing his breaking ball and his changeup for strikes, and was pleased with the life on his fastball.

He worked swinging strikeouts of Luis Rengifo, Albert Pujols and Brian Goodwin, and had a scoreless sheet until he issued a four-pitch walk to Andrelton Simmons with two outs in the second, which Jason Castro followed up with a RBI double to left.

“I thought it was a good opportunity for Justin Dunn,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I thought his stuff was better today than what we saw last time out. ... That’s as good a lineup as you’re going to see this year with the additions that they have to their ball club.

“Nice to see him get after it. He just lost it a little bit for the one hitter and then gave up the double late, but (it’s a) growing process for a number of these young players.”

For the most part, Dunn handled the star power in the batter’s box well, his only other real miscue coming in the first, when he hit Trout with a fastball.

“I’ve faced him so many times in bullpens in my head, and drawn that whole sequence up,” Dunn said. “I had like 17 different sequences to give to him, I just couldn’t execute them. I think it’s a little different when you see him in the box. But, a lot of that was just me, personally, I wanted to see how I stood up against arguably the best player in the game.

“Like I said, got a little bit ahead of myself. That was the one hitter really where my misses were not nearly where I wanted them to be. But, I know the corrections and the next time I see him I think we’ll have a little better outcome.”

Though Dunn is projected to start the season with Triple-A Tacoma, showing maturity in outings like these make the case that he should pitch in Seattle at some point during the 2020 season. Dunn would be happy to face Trout and a lineup that imposing again — the adrenaline created by such a daunting task fuels him.

“I feed off of it,” he said. “I love it. A lot of it is just breathing, trying to slow my breathing down, but the mentality of the attack and all of that is where I want to be every pitch, and when you face superstars like that, it brings it up to the highest level.

“So now at this level, it’s just learning how to manage and maintain it, because I’ve had success with it over the years in the minor leagues and in college. So, new stage, just trying to learn how to balance it out.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Mariners starter Justin Dunn was ‘juiced up’ to face Mike Trout and the Angels."

Lauren Smith

The News Tribune

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Lauren Smith is a sports reporter at The News Tribune. She has covered high school sports for TNT and The Olympian, as well as the Seattle Mariners and Washington Huskies. She is a graduate of UW and Emerald Ridge High School.