5/18/26

(Seattle, WA) A week after both having the success of a series win in Houston coupled with the disappointment of being swept by San Diego again, the Seattle Mariners would finish up their homestand with the final series against the Chicago White Sox. With such a lack of consistency from the AL West as a whole, the M’s still remain right in the mix in the wide-open division as one good run from any team could separate themselves from the pack.

Chicago meanwhile has enjoyed a surprisingly good start to their 2026 season, entering the series with a record of 24-22 and occupying a Wild Card spot. Chicago would be atop the AL West if they were in the division and a breakout month from their offense had vaulted them into the mix in an AL Central that is pretty topsy turvy in its own right.

In the opener of the series, Bryan Woo would get the ball for Seattle trying to snap the M’s three-game skid. After a couple of tough outings, Woo has since bounced back and would look for his third quality start in a row. For Chicago, they would hope to take advantage of Seattle’s struggles against lefties as Noah Schultz got the ball for the seventh start of his rookie season.

Mariners 6, White Sox 1 (Game One, May 18h)

Chicago made Bryan Woo work hard in the top of the 1st as he walked two batters and allowed a hit while throwing 25 pitches, but a baserunning mistake by Sam Antonacci helped make it a scoreless inning nonetheless. Noah Schultz would not be as fortunate in the bottom of the 1st and despite throwing fewer pitches, did give up the game’s first run. With nobody on and one out, Julio Rodríguez came to the plate and did damage on the eighth pitch of the AB. A 3-2 sinker was just on the outer black but J-Rod drove it out to right center for his eighth home run of the season. The best start to a season in the stars career continued as Seattle grabbed the early 1-0 lead.

After giving up back-to-back singles to Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami in the 3rd, Bryan Woo would on a tear and struck out the next five batters he faced and did not allow another batter to reach in the rest of his outing. More run support came for the 2025 All-Star in the bottom of the 3rd on a weird play. Jhonny Pereda reached on a hit by pitch to start the inning but remained there with two outs. Randy Arozarena stayed hot with a double into the left field corner. Pereda would be thrown out at the plate, but the umpires ruled obstruction on Sam Antonacci as he and Pereda collided as the Mariner catcher rounded second base. The umpires awarded Pereda home to make it 2-0 which in turn saw Chicago manager Will Venable get ejected after a lengthy discussion.

Cole Young had a great leaping catch to keep Woo in a groove in the 5th before he sat the White Sox down in order in the 6th to end his day. His last batter would be a strikeout of Colson Montgomery and Woo let out some emotion as he left the mound with a dominant outing and his third consecutive quality start. The reliable starter went six scoreless innings and allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out eight in his third scoreless outing of the season.

Right after Bryan Woo left the game, the bats would add an insurance run as a going away present before the bullpen took over. Randy Arozarena led off the bottom of the 6th with his second double of the game and 13th of the season. A passed ball saw him move up to third before Josh Naylor singled to right to bring home Randy and make it 3-0. The threat continued to build as Connor Joe reached on an error and he and Naylor pulled off a double steal to put runners on second and third. Unfortunately, Seattle couldn’t cash in as Cole Young grounded out to first and Colt Emerson popped out to short to end the inning before Seattle could add on.

Eduard Bazardo was the first reliever used by Dan Wilson and looked good as he retired Andrew Benintendi and Jarred Kelenic for a quick two outs. After making an incredible catch earlier in the game, Tristan Peters made an impact at the plate as well. Bazardo tried to get ahead with a first pitch sinker right down the heart of the plate but Peters was aggressive and crushed his second home run of the season out to right to make it 3-1. A Drew Romo single and Luisangel Acuña walk chased Bazardo as the go-ahead run came to the plate. Jose A. Ferrer would get out of it with a flyout by Randal Grichuk to Julio in center to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Ferrer pitched the 8th as well and allowed Munetaka Murakami to reach second but retired the other three he faced to put up a zero. In the bottom of the 8th, a great moment would occur that also provided the M’s some breathing room. A single by Josh Naylor and walk by Dominic Canzone put two on with nobody out, but Trevor Richards would strikeout Luke Raley and get Cole Young to fly out. In stepped Colt Emerson, still in search of his first big league hit. He fell behind quickly at 0-2 before evening the count. A couple of foul balls led to Emerson chasing a changeup below the zone. He would hook it down the right field line and got just enough to get it out making his first career hit a three-run home run. T-Mobile Park was deafening as Emerson was swarmed by teammates as his family looked on at the young star giving the Mariners a 6-1 lead. Colt Emerson became the 11th Mariner to accomplish that feat and the first since Jarred Kelenic did it in 2021.

Despite the game turning into a non-save situation, Andrés Muñoz still came in to pitch the 9th as he had not pitched in the last four games. He looked very good as he got Jarred Kelenic and Tristan Peters to both fly out on just seven pitches. That seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the White Sox as Muñoz struck out Drew Romo on just three pitches to slam the door shut. Looking to move on from a very bad series with San Diego, Seattle got off on the right foot with a 6-1 win over the White Sox in the series opener.

Notable Performances

White Sox

Mariners

• Bryan Woo (W, 4-2)- 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO
• Colt Emerson- 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Josh Naylor- 3-4, RBI, R, 2 SB

Roster Moves

• 3B Leo Rivas optioned to Triple-A Tacoma
• RHP Domingo Gonzalez optioned to Triple-A Tacoma
• 1B Patrick Wisdom activated from 10-day IL
• LHP Robinson Ortiz recalled from Triple-A Tacoma

What’s Next

Seattle (23-26) took advantage of the Athletics getting walked off by the Angels on Monday while Texas lost to Colorado and Houston lost in Minnesota. With those results, Seattle moves to just one game back of the A’s in the AL West while they are tied with Texas in the division. Only the Mariners and Rangers have positive run differentials in the AL West with the M’s at +11 and Texas at +2.

The series between the Mariners and White Sox will continue on Tuesday at 6:40pm as Seattle will try to clinch the series while having a trial run on a rotation twist. Bryce Miller (0-0, 3.38 ERA) will get the start for the Mariners in his second outing of the season after a nice performance in Houston in his 2026 debut. Luis Castillo (1-4, 6.34 ERA) will piggyback off of Miller and come in out of the bullpen as Seattle will see how the strategy works as they try to incorporate all six starters into the rotation. Chicago will go with the standard approach and have Anthony Kay (3-1, 4.61 ERA) get the ball as the lefty allowed just one unearned run in five innings in his start a couple of weeks ago against the Mariners.

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