6/3/26

(Seattle, WA) A perfect homestand would be a first for the Seattle Mariners in 2026 as the M’s would look for their ninth win in a row and third consecutive sweep as they wrapped up the series with the New York Mets on Wednesday afternoon. A nice blend of offense and pitching along with Seattle catching a few breaks along the way had the team riding a high that they had not seen this season. With their longest road trip of the season looming, the M’s would hope to be heading into that trip with nine wins in a row.

For the sweep, Seattle would hope George Kirby could solve his issues with the New York Mets. In three starts against the Mets in his career, Kirby had an 8.49 ERA so reducing that would be a must to keep the win streak alive. Freddy Peralta was acquired by the Mets in the offseason and immediately became their ace but would hope to get more run support that he had so far in 2026.

Mets 7, Mariners 1 (Game Three, June 3rd)

Both pitchers would deal with some early trouble in this one. In the top of the 1st, George Kirby gave up back-to-back one out singles to Bo Bichette and Juan Soto. A grounder by Jared Young set up a double play, but Josh Naylor’s throw to second went into left field, allowing Bichette to score and giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. Kirby would strand the other two runners before Freddy Peralta dealt with early adversity. J.P. Crawford led off the game with a six-pitch AB that ended with him taking a fastball 409-feet to right center for his 10th home run of the season and 17th leadoff home run of his career. An anticipated pitcher’s duel was off to a shaky start with the score 1-1.

Kirby and Peralta would strand traffic in the 2nd and 3rd as a double by J.P. Crawford and a walk to Julio Rodríguez were erased on a double play hit into by Randy Arozarena. Things would then fall apart for Seattle in the 4th. A one-out walk to MJ Melendez and a single by Luis Torrens set the table for Carson Benge who hurt the M’s again with an RBI single. Bo Bichette made it 3-1 with an RBI single of his own before things got weird. After Juan Soto hit into a fielder’s choice, Juan Soto stole second and on the throw to second, Carson Benge took home to make it 4-1. Jared Young seemed to end the inning with a grounder to first, but the ball hit off of first base, redirecting by Josh Naylor who had no chance to make a play which turned it into an RBI double. Seattle finally saw some breaks go against them as they found themselves in a 5-1 hole.

Singles by Cole Young and Luke Raley gave Seattle a chance to respond with one out in the bottom of the 4th to try to prevent New York from building too much momentum. Jhonny Pereda would battle at the plate on a six-pitch AB to run the count full. However, Pereda stepped out of the batters box after already calling time out during the AB. That resulted in a pitch clock violation which added a strike to Pereda, ending the at-bat with a strikeout. That seemed to really rattle the M’s as Colt Emerson followed with a strikeout of his own, ending Seattle’s chance for an immediate response.

George Kirby would not go back out for the 5th as he was done after throwing 89 pitches in four innings. Eduard Bazardo instead came in as Seattle tried to keep it close. Instead, the Mets continued to play add on. A one-out single by A.J. Ewing put a man on for MJ Melendez who would tuck a line drive down the right field line and into the corner. The speedy Ewing scored from first as Melendez recorded his fourth double of the season to make it 6-1.

Seattle just couldn’t get anything going against Freddy Peralta. A top tier starter in the league, a five-run lead was more than enough to allow Peralta to just dig his heels in and be aggressive on the mound with plenty of wiggle room. Seattle managed just six hits against Peralta with three of them coming from J.P. Crawford. Only four at-bats with runners in scoring position limited Seattle’s opportunities to do damage as Peralta went six innings allowing the one run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Seattle put the ball in play fairly frequently, but had a lot of weak contact on Wednesday afternoon.

New York added another run in the 8th after a Luis Torrens double set up a sacrifice fly for Bo Bichette, who went 4-4 on the day. A 7-1 deficit was too much for a strong Mets bullpen to let up as Seattle recorded just one baserunner in three innings against the Mets relievers. Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver, and Joey Garber all rolled as the winning streak came to an end. While Seattle still took the series, it was the Mets dominating the finale by a final score of 7-1.

Notable Performances

Mets

Mariners

• J.P. Crawford- 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI, R
• Jhonny Pereda- 1-2, BB
• George Kirby (L, 5-5)- 4 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

What’s Next

While the winning streak is officially over, the Seattle Mariners (33-30) still made a great run and remain atop the AL West. Texas had their winning streak snapped by St. Louis on Wednesday as well while the A’s, Astros, and Angels all got wins. Both the Athletics and Astros play on Thursday while the rest of the division has the day off. Seattle is two games ahead of the A’s, 2 1/2 ahead of Texas, five ahead of Houston, and nine ahead of Los Angeles. The A’s and Astros will play a three-game series in Houston this weekend while Texas hosts the red-hot Cleveland Guardians for three and the Angels visit the Dodgers for three.

It will be a long road trip for the Mariners as they start a ten-day, ten-game road trip with an ALDS rematch in Detroit with the Tigers. For as tough of a season as it had been for the M’s, no playoff team from last year is having a rougher 2026 than Detroit. Sitting in fourth place in the AL Central, the Tigers (25-38) have been horrendous offensively with the sixth fewest runs scored in baseball. Their pitching has been average due to a plethora of injuries to the rotation as back-to-back Cy Young Winner Tarik Skubal is currently on the IL along with Jackson Jobe, Casey Mize, and Justin Verlander. Framber Valdez missed time due to a suspension but he will open the series on the mound for Detroit. Adding in the worst season of Jack Flaherty’s career has even sparked a ton of trade conversation regarding Tarik Skubal.

After going 6-22 in May, it is hard to circle on obvious choice for the player spotlight, especially with Skubal on the injured list. However, there is an award candidate on the roster and that is rookie Kevin McGonigle who could have swung the ALDS into Detroit’s favor last year. The current betting favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year with Munetaka Murakami hurt, McGonigle is a reliable table setter towards the top of the order for Detroit. His average is .288 on the season with 19 extra base hits and 21 runs batted in. He has great speed with nine stolen bases and a terrific glove at shortstop as well. Detroit is coming off a sweep of Tampa Bay and while he just played in two games in the series, McGonigle went 3-9 and scored three runs. He can do damage but if he is getting on for Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler, there is still reason to be cautious against this Detroit lineup.

• Game 1, Friday 3:40pm- Bryan Woo (5-3, 3.44 ERA) vs. Framber Valdez (2-4, 4.39 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 10:10am- Bryce Miller (1-1, 1.71 ERA) vs. Keider Montero (2-3, 3.69 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 10:10am- Luis Castillo (2-5, 5.53 ERA) vs. Jack Flaherty (1-7, 5.31 ERA)

elisportsnetwork.com