Prior yanked after getting 4 outs, allowing 3 runs

PEORIA, Ariz. – Mark Prior’s return didn’t answer as many questions as it created.\nPrior, who missed most of last season because of injuries, started, allowed three earned runs and got just four outs before Chicago manager Lou Piniella pulled the Cubs’ former ace from Monday’s exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners.\nPrior was scheduled to go two innings but left after 40 pitches – 16 of which were chest-high or higher. After an errant fastball forced catcher Michael Barrett out of crouch and into a reaching snag, pitching coach Larry Rothschild visited Prior on the mound. Mike Morse hit the next pitch into the left-center field gap for a double.\nJeremy Reed followed by hitting a 2-0 pitch 15 feet up the dark hitting background beyond straightaway center field, over the 410-foot sign. That double – one of three off Prior – scored Kenji Johjima for a 2-0 lead. After No. 9 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt’s hard, one-hop groundout on a 1-0 pitch, Piniella replaced the 26-year-old right-hander with Ben Howard.\nPrior sat on the dugout bench and threw his cap over his shoulder into the back wall of the dugout.\nHoward allowed Willie Bloomquist’s RBI single, the third and final run charged to Prior.