The Seattle Mariners needed back-to-back home runs in the first inning, then three consecutive sacrifice bunts in the seventh to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-7.

They needed all that offense in part because Seattle pitchers walked eight batters, something manager Don Wakamatsu wasn't happy with.

"Some of those were four-pitch walks by our bullpen, and that just won't cut it," he said.

Homers by Wladimir Balentien and Russell Branyan put the Mariners up 4-0 early, but the Diamondbacks caught them a 7-7.

Then Jamie Burke, Ronny Cedeno and Tyson Gillies dropped bunts, and when Arizona's infield couldn't handle two of them, Seattle scored four runs.

The victory left the Mariners 6-2-1 heading into a day off.

And the legend grows.

Ken Griffey Jr. played his second game of the spring, walked twice and told his manager he planned to single in his third at-bat – then joked that he’d just keep running down the right field line toward the Seattle clubhouse.

Well, Junior singled leading off the fourth inning, rounded first, and saw that Wakamatsu was sending in a pinch-runner.

Griffey threw a quick wave and was gone – trotting down the line and away.

“I waved, Don waved and I was gone,” Griffey said.

In the bottom of the fifth: Seattle 7, Arizona 4.

Seattle turned the first inning into a fireworks display, with back-to-back home runs by Wladimir Balentien and Ruseell Branyan pushed the Mariners to a 4-0 lead over Arizona.

Afrer Franklin Gutierrez singled, Ken Griffey Jr. worked a one-out walk and Balentien hit a long home run to left-center field - his second in as many days.

Russell followed with his first of the spring.

Today’s Seattle lineup features Ken Griffey Jr. as the designated hitter – his second appearance of the spring – and a cast of characters from across the expanse of a 63-man spring roster.

Griffey, along with Mike Sweeney and Russell Branyan, is being brought along slowly, the plan being not to have ready until late in camp. There’s no need to rush anyone, and doing so would risk the kind of minor injury that could nag all year.

Here’s the lineup, and the spring numbers that mean so much …

Franklin Gutierrez CF (.462 )
Yuniesky Betancourt SS (.333)
Ken Griffey Jr. DH (.000)
Wladimir Balentien LF (.500)
Russell Branyan 1B (.250)
Matt Tuiasosopo 3B (.500)
Mike Morse RF (.300)
Jamie Burke C (.000)
Ronny Cedeono 2B (.333)
Ryan Rowland-Smith P (13.50 ERA)