Mariners take “run it back” too literally, lose Cactus League opener 5-2

Your first Sun Visor winner of the spring Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images It’s maybe in keeping for the Mariners’ stay-the-course off-season that their first game of spring featured some themes familiar to fans from last season: no hits through the first five innings, more strikeouts than walks, and hitters failing to pick up the precious few batters who did reach base. Add that to some shaky performances from the Mariners’ pitching pile and we have a 5-2 loss to the Padres to open the spring campaign.

It was a rough start for lefty Jhonathan Díaz, who walked the first batter he saw and surrendered a two-run home run to Manny Machado, who ambushed a first-pitch changeup. Díaz then gave…