PEORIA, Ariz -- So what if it's spring training? Second-year Mariners manager John McLaren said he wanted to send a message to the defending division champion Angels.
Los Angeles didn't seem too concerned.
New ace Erik Bedard improved from his so-so spring debut by allowing one run in three innings and Seattle beat the Angels 6-5 in the first spring game between the teams expected to battle for the AL West title.
The rivals started their regulars and played them for six innings, when all but one run scored.
"They are the team to beat, let's face it," McLaren said. "It was a spring training game with a regular season feel to it."
For one team, anyway.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia scoffed at the idea of sending a message in March.
"This is about us getting our work in and getting to where we need to be," he said.
McLaren still remembers the first spring meeting between these teams in 2002, after Seattle had beaten the Angels 15 times in 19 games the previous season. He said Scioscia brought two buses, one more than usual for a spring road game, and played his starters in a 15-2 win. The Angels finished second that season, ahead of the Mariners, and made the playoffs as the wild card.
Other than McLaren's proclamation, Wednesday was like most spring games. Ichiro Suzuki tipped his cap as he walked past Scioscia on his way to the clubhouse with three other Seattle regulars after leaving the game before the seventh.
Another only-in-spring-training moment: Torii Hunter's triple off J.J. Putz in the sixth sailed over the head of Angels teammate Jason Bulger, who had just finished pitching and was on a conditioning run on the warning track. Suzuki ran around Bulger to grab the carom off the wall in center field.
Putz, Seattle's All-Star closer, allowed three hits and two runs in one inning. Hunter, who signed a $90 million, five-year free-agent contract in the offseason, also doubled and scored two runs.
The Mariners traded five players to the Orioles last month for Bedard and selected him to start opening day. He allowed three runs, four hits and two walks in his first spring start Friday against San Francisco.
His only trouble Wednesday came after Chone Figgins sliced an 0-2 pitch for a triple leading off the game, leaving Bedard kicking the mound. Figgins scored the only run off him when Gary Matthews Jr. hit a sacrifice fly.
Bedard said he didn't change anything from his previous start. He had fewer words than pitches -- he threw 38, 26 for strikes. His ground rules for the session: "You've got four questions."
Why four?
"That's one," Bedard said.
"I was throwing the same as last time," he said during the 78 seconds he made himself available. "They just weren't hitting them today."
Then, after the four questions, he marched into the clubhouse training room.
Nick Adenhart, a top prospect out of Double-A who was starting because John Lackey has a sore elbow, allowed seven hits and three runs in 2 2/3 innings for Los Angeles.
Lackey is scheduled to make his spring debut on Monday.
"He was behind too many hitters today," Scioscia said of the 21-year-old Adenhart. "But he showed the stuff we are all excited about."
