Getting closer to starting

This was going to be the day Ryan Rowland-Smith proved that a gut-wrenching decision earlier this spring was worth it.

Rowland-Smith had skipped playing for Team Australia at the World Baseball Classic, a move he debated internally right up to the pretournament deadline. It seemed an almost futile gesture at the time, with the Mariners seemingly having all five spots in their rotation locked down and Rowland-Smith again ticketed for bullpen duty.

But then Brandon Morrow came up hurting and decided to abandon the rotation permanently. That left a spot wide open for Rowland-Smith, one he just might have nailed down with an exclamation point Monday.

"That's always the kind of outing you want to have, obviously," Rowland-Smith said after holding the Milwaukee Brewers to two runs over six solid innings. "At the end of camp, I'm trying to lock that spot in the rotation down, so it's a good time to have it."