6/1/26

(Seattle, WA) Six consecutive wins had the Seattle Mariners hotter than anyone else in the game as the team finally had started to play like the World Series contender they were thought to be. Securing the top spot in the AL West as well put Seattle at the forefront of the baseball world but to finally get to the first World Series in franchise history, it would take more than just one hot stretch. Seattle would need to build upon it and turn a hot stretch into just being a dominant team.

Next up on the schedule would be the New York Mets. One of the biggest disappointments of the season, the Mets went all in and entered the season with the second largest payroll of any team in baseball behind only the superpower that is the Los Angeles Dodgers. New York has not seen the same success as LA and have been at or towards the bottom of the NL East virtually the entire season, even behind the “not quite contenders” in Miami and Washington. A sweep of the Marlins did move the Mets out of the bottom of the division but they would get a tougher test in Seattle this week.

Mariners 3, Mets 2 (10 Innings) (Game One, June 1st)

In the opener of the series, New York would go with a planned opener in Adam Warren before he would pass the ball to former AL West rival in Sean Manaea. The lefty has had an up and down year but against a lineup that has struggled against lefties, Manaea had a chance to take a big stride forward. Emerson Hancock would take the ball for Seattle still rolling through by far the best year of his career. Hancock’s success is the reason for Seattle’s dilemma with the piggyback method and a potential six-man rotation.

The only opportunity for the first couple of innings came in the bottom of the 2nd when Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch followed by a Luke Raley walk to put two on with one out. Rob Refsnyder then ended the inning by hitting into a double play, but one inning later Seattle would grab the first run. Colt Emerson stepped to the plate with the bases empty and one out against fellow lefty Sean Manaea. Facing lefties is a key focus early on for Emerson and he showcased what he could do against them with one swing on a sweeper at the top of the zone. Emerson sent it out to right field for his third home run of the season and grabbed Seattle a 1-0 lead.

Emerson Hancock was perfect through four innings as he diced up the New York Mets lineup, even sitting down the top three of Carson Benge, Bo Bichette, and Juan Soto twice. The only blemishes on his day came in back-to-back innings and unfortunately they were big blemishes. Leading off the 5th, Jared Young put a nice swing on a well located fastball and drove his second home run of the year out to center to tie the game. In the 6th, Marcus Semien caught up to a fastball belt high on the inner third on what was just a challenge pitch and crushed it 389-feet for his sixth homer of the season and those two swings had the Mets up 2-1.

José A. Ferrer would throw a perfect top of the 7th and Seattle would draw even after the 7th inning stretch. Brooks Raley took over on the mound for New York and would face Josh Naylor to begin the inning. A 3-2 sweeper caught way too much of the middle of the plate and Naylor got the barrel to it and sent a high fly ball to deep right field. It would get out for Naylor’s sixth home run and the first home run Raley had allowed to a lefty since August of 2023. It would come with some bad news as Naylor would immediately leave the game with back spasms but he left a tied game with the score 2-2.

Seattle’s bullpen was just as brilliant as Emerson Hancock was as they rolled through the rest of the game. Matt Brash hit MJ Melendez in the 8th but a phenomenal double play turned by Cole Young helped him to face the minimum. Andrés Muñoz followed with a 1-2-3 9th facing Luis Torrens, Carson Benge, and Bo Bichette but Seattle couldn’t score as the game went to the 10th. With Bo Bichette at second base as the automatic runner, Gabe Speier recorded a huge strikeout of Juan Soto before also striking out Mark Vientos and getting A.J. Ewing, who played a fantastic center field, to pop out to J.P. Crawford. The automatic runner for the Mets never left second base and gave Seattle a chance to walk it off yet again with just a single run in the bottom of the 10th.

Randy Arozarena would be the automatic runner for Seattle with Patrick Wisdom at the plate. Wisdom is not a bunter and seemed like he would not be able to move Arozarena over. With a 1-2 count, reliever A.J. Minter disengaged twice which allowed Arozarena to be more aggressive. As Wisdom struck out, Arozarena stole third for his 17th stolen base of the season. That meant Cole Young could walk it off with a fly ball, but that would not be as nice as what he did. Young broke his bat but dunked a single into left field to net the Mariners their third walk-off in the last four games. A 3-2 win in 10 innings also gave the M’s their seventh win in a row as they downed the Mets in the opener.

Notable Performances

Mets

Mariners

• Cole Young- 2-3, RBI, BB, Walk-Off
• Colt Emerson- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Emerson Hancock (ND)- 6 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO

What’s Next

With the win, Seattle (32-29) is now tied for the third longest winning streak in baseball this season. They have not been able to pull too far away in the division as Texas defeated St. Louis on Monday for their fourth win in a row. The Angels would lose to Colorado while the A’s and Astros were both off on Monday.

The series in the Pacific Northwest continues on Tuesday at 6:40pm as the Mariners look to push their winning streak to eight and earn a third consecutive series victory. The New York Mets will once again go with an opener as Huascar Brazoban will take the ball in the 1st before Jonah Tong (1-0, 0.00 ERA) takes over as the bulk guy after that. Tong will be making his eight career appearance and third of this season. Tong has just pitched 6 2/3 innings this season and while he hasn’t allowed an earned run and only three hits, he has walked five batters while striking out just three and will need to eat innings to an overworked Mets bullpen. Logan Gilbert (3-4, 3.69 ERA) will have the start for the M’s and he enters the game having not allowed a run in his last 11 2/3 innings pitched and has struck out 12 over that stretch.

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