Almora makes great catch, Happ has huge day

PEORIA, Ariz. — Kyle Hendricks was the first top-four member of the Cubs’ rotation to get a second spring start. The loose expectation going in was that he’d throw four innings, but 43 pitches of scoreless work proved to be enough for the day. His next start should take him into the 75-80 range. By their fourth spring starts, Hendricks, Jon Lester et al. could be pushing 100 pitches.

“We still have three or four outings until the first one in the regular season, so that’s plenty of time to get our innings up and our pitch counts up,” Hendricks said.

Some items of note from the Mariners’ 11-10 victory, a fun game in which the home team stormed back in the late innings from a 10-2 deficit:

ALMORA’S DAY

Albert Almora Jr. played center field, with Jon Jay in left, which might tell you something about how the Cubs will align their outfield when both players are in games together. Almora made a dazzling catch on a rocket off the bat of Mariners star Kyle Seager, chasing down what looked like a sure extra-base hit.

HAPPY GUY

Promising Ian Happ continues to look like the real deal. After ringing up four hits, including his first homer of the spring, he’s batting .375 with a 1.025 OPS.

LOUD AND PROUD

Wins and losses may not mean much at all in the spring, but a surprisingly loud crowd in Peoria seemed to think a heck of a lot was on the line. There were tons of Cubs fans, of course — that’s going to be the case anywhere — but tip of the cap to several thousand Mariners crazies for staying to the end and ringing in their team’s comeback from eight runs down over the final three innings. Good times.

ON DECK

Rockies at Cubs, Mesa, 2:05 p.m., cubs.com, Tyler Chatwood vs. Jon Lester.

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Email: sgreenberg@suntimes.com