4/1/26

(Seattle, WA) For the first time in 2026 the Seattle Mariners entered the series finale with a chance to take the series and end the season-opening homestand with a winning record. After going 3-3 in their first six, the M’s would battle a New York Yankees (4-1) squad that was surprisingly being carried by their pitching staff through the first week of the season. New York entered the finale only allowing three runs in their first 35 innings played, which matched the 1943 St. Louis Cardinals for the fewest runs allowed in a team’s first five games of the season in MLB history.

For the finale, George Kirby would take the ball for the Mariners looking to build off of a nice season debut. Kirby allowed just one run which came on a solo homer, in six innings with two hits allowed and two walks while striking out six in the M’s first win of the season against Cleveland. The New York native will face the team he grow up rooting for for the 3rd time in his career. Kirby owns a 1.80 ERA in 15 innings against the Yankees with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

Looking to continue the Yankees historic pitching start will be Cam Schlittler on Wednesday. Schlittler went 5 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit and no walks allowed while striking out eight. Schlittler made his MLB debut last July against the Mariners and started strong but faded late as he allowed three earned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out seven. He also allowed two home runs to J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco in that game in the Bronx.

Yankees 5, Mariners 3 (Game Three, April 1st)

The game started almost exactly like game two. George Kirby came out and retired the first two batters he faced before Cody Bellinger extended the inning with a two-out walk. The Yankees would test Cal Raleigh’s arm again but Leo Rivas just couldn’t hang onto the ball as Bellinger swiped second. Ben Rice then yanked one down the right field line for a base hit as it got into the corner. Bellinger scored on Rice’s third double of the season to give New York a 1-0 lead. Paul Goldschmidt then battled and a 1-2 pitch was called a ball. George Kirby challenged the call for the M’s second challenge of the game and fortunately he was right to save the M’s a challenge and strikeout the former MVP looking to end the inning.

Seattle wasted a leadoff double by Brendan Donovan to start their half of the 1st as the middle of the Mariner order continued to struggle. Cam Schlittler was really locked in and went out and challenged the Mariners lineup with a consistent dose of fastballs. Seattle couldn’t do much against the heater and Schlittler needed just 41 pitches to get through the 4th with just two hits allowed.

George Kirby caught a bit of a break in the top of the 5th. Jazz Chisholm Jr. looked to get Kirby out of his rhythm with a leadoff single to right center. As Chisholm was leading off at first base, he was busy putting his sliding mitt on and wasn’t necessarily paying attention. George Kirby took advantage of this with a quick throw over to first to pick-off Chisholm and erase the leadoff baserunner. It really helped Kirby as he gave up a two-out single to Austin Wells as getting Jose Caballero helped him hang up another zero.

While Kirby does not walk a lot of batters, those walks would really cost him on Wednesday afternoon. With the lone run reaching via a walk, Kirby’s walk of Trent Grisham to leadoff the 6th was concerning. He would retired Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger after that but then walked Ben Rice after that. In stepped former NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt in just his second game of the season. After not putting the ball in play in his first two at-bats, Goldschmidt made the third time the charm. He took advantage of a fastball in the middle of the plate and crushed it out into the Mariners bullpen for his first home run of the season. The three-run shot really opened the lead up as the Yankees made it 4-0.

Cam Schlittler somehow pitched better than Max Fried did on Tuesday night. After allowing a double on his first pitch of the game to Brendan Donovan, the young right-hander allowed just one more baserunner in the game. Schlittler retired the final 16 Mariners in a row that he faced as he pitched into the 7th before giving way to the bullpen. He went 6 1/3 scoreless, allowing just two hits and no walks and striking out seven as the Yankees pitching staff continued to dominate the Mariners.

Finally, Seattle put some pressure on the Yankees as Camilo Doval came in to pitch the 8th and got Luke Raley to groundout to begin the inning. Back-to-back singles by Dominic Canzone and Cole Young put men at the corners and gave the M’s their best chance to score. Leo Rivas couldn’t put the ball in play as he struck out for the second out. Brendan Donovan never had to take the bat off his shoulder as he walked on four pitches to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate in Cal Raleigh. Aaron Boone went to his bullpen and brought in David Bednar but Cal was too familiar with him from catching the reliever in the World Baseball Classic. Raleigh pulled a line drive over Paul Goldschmidt’s head into right field for a two-run single to cut the deficit in half to 4-2. Julio Rodríguez couldn’t keep the rally alive as he struck out but the M’s had life late down by just two.

New York got one of those runs back immediately as Cooper Criswell stayed in for the 9th. Ben Rice tortured the Mariners all series long and did it one last time in the 9th. He would send his first home run of the season out to right to make it 5-2 and push momentum back in favor of the Yankees.

Bednar stayed in for the bottom of the 9th to try to close things out but it was not easy. After getting Josh Naylor to groundout, Bednar gave up a double to Randy Arozarena that deflected off of the glove and face of third baseman Ryan McMahon. Luke Raley hit the ball hard but Jose Caballero was in the right place for the second out. Dominic Canzone brought T-Mobile Park to life with an RBI single to right to make it 5-3 and bring the tying run to the plate in Cole Young. It would be a great battle between Young and Bednar that lasted 10 pitches, but Young would end up hitting a fairly deep flyball to right that was caught by Aaron Judge. Seattle came to life, but it was too little, too late as the M’s dropped the finale and series 5-3.

Notable Performances

Yankees

Mariners

• Dominic Canzone- 2-4, RBI, R
• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, 2 RBI
• George Kirby (L, 1-1)- 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO

What’s Next

The opening homestand sees the Seattle Mariners go 3-4 against two playoff caliber teams. They currently sit in a tie for 3rd with the Angels as Houston has the early lead in the division at 5-2 with a five-game winning streak after sweeping Boston. The M’s will now start AL West play with 10 games in a row against division foes starting with their first road trip of the season with three games at the Angels and then three at the Rangers.

Los Angeles got off to a nice start as they won their first two games of the season but have gone 1-4 since then. Pitching is the big question mark for the Halos and while José Soriano has gotten off to a strong start, the depth and the bullpen just doesn’t have a lot to concern many teams. The Angels hung around with Houston to split four games but just dropped two out of three in Chicago against a very good Cubs team. Friday’s opener will be the first home game of the season for the Angels.

Luckily the Mariners will miss Soriano so we won’t talk about his hot start in this player spotlight. Instead, we will talk about the early season resurgence of future Hall of Famer, Mike Trout. The legendary center fielder is back in the outfield this season and has seemed comfortable out there to begin the 2026 campaign. At the plate, Trout already has mashed two home runs and while he has only driven in three runs, he has scored six more himself. With Zach Neto off to a great start at the top of the order and Trout hitting with a man on more times than not, Seattle has to be careful against the man that has more home runs against the Mariners than anyone else in history.

• Game 1, Friday 6:38pm- Bryan Woo (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Reid Detmers (0-0, 5.79 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 6:38pm- Emerson Hancock (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jack Kochanowicz (0-0, 11.25 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 1:07pm- Luis Castillo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Ryan Johnson (0-1, 16.20 ERA)

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