Only a week or two ago, the early returns of the 2026 season didn’t inspire much confidence. Sure, the Mariners hadn’t dug themselves a hole in the standings like in years past—that’d be almost impossible with the state of the American League. Even so, watching the games felt akin to pulling teeth in some moments. The defense wasn’t clean, the offense seriously lacked consistency and the pitching was running into bumps in the road that they weren’t used to facing.

When Cal Raleigh went down with an oblique injury, it may not have set off the panic meter, but the Mariners’ margin for error certainly began to shrink. They were going to need to stay afloat for the time being without their biggest producer from the previous season.

The Mariners are more than staying afloat. They are sailing full steam ahead.

Production came from all over the roster Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park as the Mariners throttled the Mets 8-3 to win their eighth consecutive game and capture yet another series win.

In a moment that epitomizes the unlikely contributions throughout their hot streak, catcher Jhonny Pereda, making his 12th appearance of the season with Raleigh on the injured list, launched a three-run homer to break open the game and give the Mariners 7-2 lead in the fifth inning. The second homer of his career gave Mariners pitching the breathing room necessary to put the game to rest.

Over his 42 plate appearances with the big league club, Pereda is posting a 120 wRC+ while slashing .263/.333/.421. Small sample sizes be damned—there’s no guarantee Jhonny Pereda will remain on the 26-man roster when Raleigh returns, but consistent production from substitutes over even a short period can go a long way to filling even a Big-Dumper-sized void in the meantime.

“That’s what good teams do when they have guys who are injured, they find a way to step up and fill the moment,” manager Dan Wilson said postgame. “And I think they do that by not trying to do too much, you know. Jhonny just put up a good at-bat, finally got a pitch middle-in he could turn on, and he did.”

Speaking of substitutes, Patrick Wisdom was called upon to get the start at first base in the absence of Josh Naylor, who got the night off after leaving Monday night’s game with back spasms. It didn’t take long for Wisdom to make his mark on the game, giving the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the second with a two-run homer off the out-of-town scoreboard in left field.

For Logan Gilbert, it wasn’t a perfect night, but the cushion provided by the offense allowed him to pass the baton to the bullpen without much stress. Gilbert made it through 5.1 innings, allowing three runs.

All three of the Mets’ runs came via a multi-homer game by Carson Benge. To lead off the game, Benge struck out, but only after seeing 11 pitches and nearly all of Gilbert’s repertoire in the process. In his following two plate appearances, he was able to deposit both a cutter and a four-seam into the right-center field seats, the first of which tied up the game and erased the lead provided by Wisdom’s homer.

Despite the long ball playing a factor, Mets hitters not named Carson Benge had trouble seeing the ball out of Gilbert’s hand all night long. Gilbert generated a whopping 21 whiffs on the evening, with nine coming on his four-seam and seven on a slider that was clicking from the get-go.

“It felt good,” Gilbert said of his slider. “Good depth, action on it good. I trust it. I’m just trying to ‘put a fastball on it,’ I call it, like sell it, make it look like your body, your arm, your hand, everything, try to sell that it’s a fastball coming out.”

Gilbert was unable to finish the sixth with his pitch count nearing triple digits and a couple of Mets reaching base with one out following Benge’s second homer. Wilson called upon Eduard Bazardo, who swiftly induced an inning-ending double play with one pitch to extinguish the threat of a comeback.

Julio Rodríguez quietly had a productive night. He golfed a solo homer out to right to give the Mariners their eighth and final run of the night, and also drove in a run earlier in the game with a sacrifice fly. Dominic Canzone also continued to excel in his lefty DH role with a three-hit night that almost goes unnoticed with everything that was clicking.

“If I had the magic touch, we’d keep it forever,” Wilson said about the Mariners’ hot hitting. “Sometimes that’s just the game. We’ve talked a lot about how offense is contagious, and it just feels like the energy right now offensively has been outstanding.”

Last but not least, Colt Emerson continued a strong start at the big league level. He picked up two hits and also got dirty for a couple of sparkling plays in the field, including the game-ending sliding catch on a pop-up in foul territory.

The Mariners will close out their six-game homestand Wednesday afternoon as they look to sweep away the Mets and win their ninth consecutive game.

After allowing just one run across his two previous outings combined, Mets right-hander Jonah Tong had a tough night on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners.

The 22-year-old entered in the second inning and allowed five runs (four earned) over 3.1 IP, with three coming on a home run in the fifth inning to Jhonny Pereda that blew the game open, 7-2. Following the loss, Tong acknowledged his fastball wasn't working against the Mariners' bats and struggled after a solid first inning on the mound, knowing he needs to be more consistent.

"I obviously didn't have my fastball command for most of the game, so moving forward that's the definitely be the thing I'll focus on the next few games, weeks," Tong said. "Just getting that dialed back in and I'm more than confident it'll rebound right out of it really nicely."

He added on his overall performance: "Strong first little inning and then felt like I found my delivery and my stuff towards the end. Obviously it just boils down to that second and third up. I just got to do a better job."

While acknowledging the defensive errors that occurred, manager Carlos Mendoza pointed to Tong's issues throwing strikes and getting ahead in counts as the main reasons for the poor outing. In total, Tong threw 83 pitches, but only 54 were for strikes. He used his fastball 35 times (42 percent of pitches), but only had three whiffs on 16 swings and four called strikes. 

"Having a hard time throwing strikes, that's where it starts," Mendoza said. "His ability to get strike one was below average today. And then deep counts, three-ball counts. Again, we don't make a couple of plays behind him and it cost him. But I think it's just like I said before the game, his ability to compete in the strike zone, and right now he's not doing it."

Like Mendoza mentioned, Tong did have to work around two errors in the third inning by Marcus Semien and Mark Vientos that forced him to throw 27 pitches in the frame. After a long time on the mound like that, Tong said he needs to "find a way" to push through when heading back out there again quickly like he did.

"You just got to calm yourself down after that," Tong said. "There's a lot of pitches thrown a couple times throughout that inning, just got to find a way to settle down after. Just got to find a way. Right, at the end of the day, that's out of my control in a lot of cases and that's the reality we're in so I got to find a way."

The home run pitch to Pereda came on cutter, which is something he's worked into his arsenal this year. He knows the pitch needs to improve, especially in big moments like Tuesday night.

"Part of it is just gonna be you're gonna have some really good ones and you're just gonna have one that gets away from you. And unfortunately had to be that one," Tong said. "But again, I have to do a better job with that pitch. That's plain and simple there."

Tong's future as the team's bulk pitcher after an opener next time through the rotation is still up in the air, as they'll need him to improve if he gets another chance. For now, New York will look to avoid a sweep on Wednesday afternoon against the Mariners.

The Dodgers evened the series on Tuesday night by narrowly beating the Dbacks 6-5. The Dbacks had plenty of runners on base, but were 1 big hit short Tuesday night.

Michael Soroka struggled early in this one allowing 2 runs in each of the first 2 innings. He allowed a 2 run HR to Freeman in the first and Ohtani tripled in 2 runs in the second. After the second inning however, Soroka locked it in and cruised through the next 4 innings. After giving up the 4 runs through 2 innings, it was huge for him to be able to get through 6 innings and keep his team in the game.

Offensively, Corbin Carroll homered in the 3^rd inning. Nolan Arenado also delivered a big 2 run double in the bottom of the 7^th that narrowly missed a home run as it was hit a little to flat but plenty hard at 104 mph. Pavin Smith had a big at bat in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded, drawing a big walk to bring the Dbacks within 1 run. Unfortunately though, the team would leave them loaded.

I also thought it was worth noting that Juan Morillo and Kevin Ginkel were really good yet again. Ginkel had a fantastic 1,2,3 inning to maintain the momentum and shut down the Dodger offense after bringing the game within 1 run. Juan Morillo came in in the 9^th and proceeded to strike out Ohtani and Freeman in dominant fashion. Just really impressive stuff from these guys once again and I think its worthy of a shout out.

The achilles heel of this Dbacks team tonight aside from the early runs surrendered by Soroka was the lack of timely hitting. The offense did a great job of getting traffic on the bases but this Dbacks offense once again struggled to have the big at bat and get the big hit. They were just 2-12 with RISP. It is tough to win games with at bats like that with RISP.  One such at bat that will certainly get discussed a lot is Geraldo Perdomo’s perplexing bunt in the bottom of the 9^th down 1. Ildemaro Vargas had just singled ahead of him putting the tying run on first base with one out, and Perdomo with a 3-1 count laid down a bunt and got thrown out at first. What makes this even more scratching is that lefty Pavin Smith was on deck due to face a lefty. Im sorry, but as the regular 3 hole hitter on this team, you have to be more situationally aware than that and have the confidence to swing the bat in that situation. Major red flag for me the lack of situational awareness as well as the lack of confidence.

Overall, this was yet another game the Dbacks could’ve won and there is something to be said about that when you are playing one of the top teams in the league. They will look to take the lead back in the series tomorrow night but will have the tall task of trying to do so against Shohei Ohtani. Tomorrow is a big night for Zac Gallen. This team really needs him to start stepping up and tomorrow would be a great time to start.

The Seattle Mariners proved once again why they’re the hottest team in baseball at the expense of the New York Mets.

The Mets gave up three home runs and committed two errors as the Mariners won their eighth straight game. Meanwhile, the Mets’ lineup outside of Carson Benge couldn’t get much going in Tuesday’s 8-3 loss. Benge hit two home runs and accounted for all three of New York’s runs.

Benge’s home runs came against Seattle’s starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, who finished with eight strikeouts across five and 1/3 innings. The Mariners’ bullpen took it from there, shutting New York down the rest of the way. Julio Rodriguez, Patrick Wisdom, and Jhonny Pereda added home runs for Seattle.

Huascar Brazobán played the role of opener for Jonah Tong and went once through the Seattle order with poor results. He walked the leadoff man, J.P. Crawford, before getting three groundball outs to escape. He wasn’t so lucky in the second inning. Dominic Canzone’s single was followed up by Wisdom’s home run to put Seattle up 2-0. Brazobán gave up a double to Colt Emerson before being pulled for Tong, who struck out Crawford on three pitches to end the inning.

The Mets’ rookie outfielders answered back in the top of the third. AJ Ewing hit his first big-league double, which was followed by Benge’s first home run of the night. Benge’s third-inning dinger was the hardest-hit ball of his career at 109.8 mph. Bo Bichette was then hit by a pitch, but Gilbert struck out Soto to end the inning. Soto entered the game 1 for 13 in his career against Gilbert. After he lined out and struck out, Soto got a single off Gilbert in the fifth inning before the right-hander was pulled.

The Mets’ infield defense let Tong down in his first clean inning. Randy Arozarena hit a line drive at Marcus Semien that Semien was able to knock down, but he airmailed the throw to first base, allowing Arozarena to advance to second. Next up was Luke Raley, who hit a line drive to first baseman Mark Vientos, who dropped it, easily sending Arozarena to home plate. The Vientos error put the Mariners up 3-2, a lead they never gave up.

Tong got into trouble all on his own in the fourth inning. He walked Wisdom, gave up a single to Pereda, then a walk to Crawford to load the bases. Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to score Wisdom and increase the lead to 4-2.

It kept getting worse for Tong in the fifth inning when he gave up a three-run home run to Pereda. Buried 7-2 and short on arms, manager Carlos Mendoza left Tong in for the rest of the fifth before going with Cionel Perez to start the sixth. Perez immediately gave up Rodriguez’s solo shot, but didn’t allow any more runs across two total innings. AJ Minter pitched for the second night in a row, stranding a pair in the eighth inning.

Benge’s second home run came in the sixth inning, but the Mets’ offense went quietly after the brief sign of life. A single from Brett Baty in the seventh and a walk from Benge in the eighth were all the Mets got going against Seattle relievers Eduard Bazardo and Cooper Criswell.

Semien, Vientos, Bichette, Jared Young, and Hayden Senger all went hitless for the Mets.

New York looks to avoid the sweep with Freddy Peralta on the mound for Wednesday’s series finale at 3:30 PM ET.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Carson Benge, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jonah Tong, -28% WPA
Mets pitchers: -45% WPA
Mets hitters: -5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Carson Benge home run in the third, +20.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Patrick Wisdom home run in the second, +19.9% WPA

Tuesday night's game against the Mariners showed the inconsistency of Mets first baseman Mark Vientos this season.

In the first inning, Vientos made a couple of good plays at first, including a nifty play going to his left on a grounder by Luke Raley down the right field line. Vientos scooped up the grounder, turned and threw to Huascar Brazoban covering at first to get the third out of the opening frame. Just two innings later, with a runner on second and one out, Raley lined a pitch toward Vientos at first base, but the youngster could not come up with the liner as the ball trickled into the outfield, allowing the Mariners to take a 3-2 lead.

In the fifth, Vientos would have a chance at making a play for his pitcher when Cole Young hit a grounder in the hole between first and second, but Vientos deflected it, allowing Young to reach for a one-out single. The Mariners would use that opportunity to score three more runs to go up 7-2, and Seattle would eventually win 8-3.

"Just jumped up and missed it," Vientos said of the error after the game.

When asked about the play in the fifth, Vientos said, "That one took a bad hop. Put a good glove on it, but took a bad hop."

"He’s been on and off," manager Carlos Mendoza said of Vientos' defense. "There’s been stretches where you see him play well defensively and then a couple of plays tonight are routine plays. Some inconsistency there at times." 

Vientos made his fourth error in 50 games at first base on Tuesday. Last year, he had eight errors in 72 games at third base, but with Jorge Polanco on the IL, Vientos has been thrust into the starting role of late. So far this season, Vientos has a -4 OAA playing the field, according to Baseball Savant, which puts him in the eighth percentile in MLB.

But Vientos is in the lineup for his bat, but that inconsistency on the field has spread into his batting. The young slugger had a chance to do some damage and get the Mets back into the game.

After Carson Benge's second home run of the game cut the M's lead to 7-3, Vientos came up with runners on first and second, and one out. Jared Young's eight-pitch walk knocked starter Logan Gilbert out of the game, allowing Vientos to go up against Seattle's bullpen. However, Vientos swung at a first-pitch sinker running in on him from RHP Eduard Bazardo, and grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Vientos finished 0-for-4 and is 3-for-23 (.130) with one home run over his last seven games. 

"Inconsistent, especially against righties. Having a hard time against righties," Mendoza said of Vientos offensively this season. "When you look at the numbers, he’s been pretty good against lefties. But righties are giving him a hard time."

Against left-handers, Vientos is slashing .273/.294/.439 with an OPS of .733 to go along with two home runs and eight RBI. The power numbers are greater against right-handers so far this season -- five against righties -- but the overall hitting numbers are worse. Vientos is slashing .190/.233/.347 with an OPS of .580. 

The 26-year-old said he still has confidence at the plate, but acknowledged his inconsistencies.

"Last month, a lot of bad luck, but the inconsistency is not something that I want," Vientos said. "I’m pushing for better results, working with the coaches and trying to be the best version of myself. It’s not happening, but I’m working for it, for sure."

The Dodgers peppered their offense throughout Tuesday’s game, then rode the high wire as the bullpen recorded the final 13 outs of a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix.

After a night with minimal scoring chances, the Dodgers offense wasted no time on Tuesday, with Shohei Ohtani in the middle of everything in what has historically been the best month of his career.

He doubled down the right field line and scored on Freddie Freeman’s home run in the first inning. Then Ohtani drilled a ball into the right field corner in the second for a two-run triple. He was intentionally walked with a runner on third base in the seventh, and scored then too, part of the Dodgers’ third two-run inning of the evening.

Freeman was hitless on Monday, snapping a 14-game on-base streak, but had three hits on Tuesday. He’s been on an extra-base-hit tear, with five home runs and four doubles in his last 13 games, raising his seasonal OPS 98 points during that time.

Eric Lauer didn’t give up much in the first four innings, mostly just a solo home run by the red-hot Corbin Carroll off the top of the left field wall and into the bullpen with two outs in the third. That was to be expected, with Lauer now at 13 home runs allowed, tied for eighth-most in the majors. Carroll entered Tuesday with a 219 wRC+ against lefties this season, which Ryan Blake wrote about at FanGraphs. Arizona’s star southpaw has punished southpaws to the tune of .417/.527/.708.

Two singles to open the fifth inning set the Diamondbacks up nicely, with Ketel Marte delivering a sacrifice fly to plate a second run. Lauer was allowed to face Carroll a third time, and landed a fastball and curve at the top of the zone to strike out Carroll with a runner on second base. That ended Lauer’s night at 4 2/3 innings.

Tuesday was the first time a Dodgers starting pitcher didn’t complete five innings in 12 games, and the bullpen had a bumpy road to cross the finish line.

Blake Treinen walked a first batter, then gave up a low liner to left by Nolan Arenado that had designs on bring another run home, but Ryan Ward made a sliding catch to escape further damage in the fifth, keeping the lead at two runs.

Two Diamondbacks reached off Edgardo Henriquez in the sixth, but he kept them there. Kyle Hurt walked three batters batters and couldn’t finish the seventh, and Arenado brought two of them home with a double off the left field wall. This time a bobble from Ward helped the second run score, as Mookie Betts’ relay was just a hair late to get a sliding Gabriel Moreno at the plate.

Hurt had three unintentional walks in 66 batters faced this season through Monday, but walked three of his six batters faced on Tuesday.

Will Klein was also wild, falling behind Geraldo Perdomo before a pinch-hit single loaded the bases. Then Klein walked in a run. It took a wide-ranging grab by Freeman and an acrobatic stab at second base by Mookie Betts for the Dodgers to escape the seventh inning with a lead, this time down to a single run.

With a chance to reset, Klein allowed two singles in the eighth inning but got a double play to escape with the lead intact. He leads the Dodgers with eight appearances pitching in multiple innings this season, three more than the next-most on the team (Jack Dreyer).

Tanner Scott allowed a one-out single in the ninth. Geraldo Perdomo, who finished fourth in National League MVP voting last year but has struggled to the tune of a .679 OPS this year, laid down a bunt on a 3-1 pitch, which got the potential tying run in scoring position, but at the cost of a precious second out.

That left lefty Pavin Smith against the lefty Scott, and the resulting harmless groundout allowed the Dodgers to claim this one.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: Freddie Freeman (9); Corbin Carroll (8)

WP — Blake Treinen (2-1): 1/3 IP, 1 walk

LP — Michael Soroka (7-3): 6 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (6): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

Up next

Shohei Ohtani makes his 10th pitching start of the season on Wednesday night (6:40 p.m., SportsNet LA), with opening day starter Zac Gallen on the mound for Arizona.

I am weird, you are weird. Everyone in the world is weird. One day two people come together in mutual weirdness and fall in love — Dr. Seuss

When two very bad baseball teams — say the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Angels — play a series, the stage is set for weirdness. That first became clear in Game 1 (e.g., ten walks, four errors, and an MLB review to decide the game in the bottom of the ninth).

The trend continued in Game 2 as the Rockies soundly defeated the Angels, 8-2, scoring back-to-back series wins in the process. They last had back-to-back series wins in August 2025.

The offense: Oh, the places you’ll go!

Tonight, the Rockies offense was (mostly) cooking.

After a sleepy first inning, Hunter Goodman got things rolling in the second with a leadoff home run, his 15th of the season.

Troy Johnston followed that up with a double and error on Jo Adell that allowed him to move to third with no outs. An Ezequiel Tovar sacrifice fly scored Johnson, and the Rockies had a 2-0 lead with one out in the second inning.

Grayson Rodriguez walked the next two batters, Kyle Karros and Sterlin Thompson. Between the errors and the walks, Game 2 began to have terrifying echoes of Game 1. Edouard Julien singled to scored Karros, and the Rockies had a 3-0 lead when the second inning had concluded.

Nothing of note happened in the third, but the fourth inning saw the Rockies on the move again.

After Rodriquez recorded two quick outs, he issued three singles, which resulted in Jake McCarthy scoring Kyle Karros. A throwing error allowed by Wade Meckler put McCarthy on second. And then Willi Castro (3) got everyone taco’s with a three-run homer.

Because this is a Rockies-Angels game, it involved walks, errors, and general weirdness. That happened when TJ Rumfield stepped up to the plate following Castro and hit a very strange home run, his eighth of the season.

And that was it for Grayson Rodriguez. He finished with 3.2 IP, allowing eight runs (all earned) on eight hits. He walked three, struck out two, and allowed three home runs on 91 pitches. He currently has a 10.00 ERA.

The Angels got on the board in the fifth inning. Tomoyuki Sugano got two quick outs, but struggled for the third. After allowing a double and a walk, Meckler got the Halos on the board with a double, and the score was 8-2. Sugano allowed two more runners to get on base before getting the final out.

And with that, his evening was done.

Though there was a bit on on-base traffic, things settled down for the Rockies after the fourth inning. However, this 13-pitch at-bat from Sterlin Thompson in the seventh merits some “Hang it in the Denver Art Museum” treatment.

For those keeping score at home, that’s the longest at-bat by a Rockie this season.

The offense stirred in the ninth inning when, with one out, Goodman doubled, and Troy Johnston followed up with a walk. However, the Rockies were unable to capitalize.

In terms of the final numbers, it was a good night to be Hunter Goodman, who went 2-for-4 with two hits including a home run, a double, and a walk.

The Rockies finished the evening with eight runs on 12 hits. They had five walks and eight strikeouts and were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Manager Warren Schaeffer commended Hunter Goodman’s performance.

The Rockies challenge going forward? “Playing day by day,” Schaeffer said, pointing to the length of the season.

Tomoyuki Sugano: Great day for up!

For Sugano, it was another solid outing, marred by a struggle to get the last out in the fifth inning, but still the kind of performance the Rockies have come to expect from him.

His final line was 5.0 IP and two runs (both earned) allowed on five hits. He walked two and struck out five on 96 pitches.

Sugano’s currrent ERA is 3.98.

“I thought his splinter was excellent today,” Schaeffer said, though he commented on a lack of efficiency. Still, “he did a nice job.”

The bullpen: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

In the sixth inning, it was time to bullpen.

Blas Castaño entered the game in relief of Sugano and pitched two perfect innings in which he allowed no hits, runs, or walks. He also finished his evening by striking out Mike Trout swinging.

His current ERA is 4.15. Carry on, Blas! Carry on.

On the less-weird-but-still-very-cool side, TJ Shook made his MLB debut. His first out was a fly ball to left field. Following that, Vaughn Grissom hit a double, and Shook followed that by throwing three straight balls to Jo Adell before earning a called strike.

Then Chad Stevens turned a gorgeous unassisted double play. (Unfortunately, MLB has not provided video.)

Juan Mejia handled the ninth. He allowed one hit, but no damage.

In total, Rockies pitching allowed two runs (both earned) on seven hits.

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street!

Please enjoy this Ezequiel Tovar highlight.

That’s the kind of play expected from a Gold Glove shortstop.

Up next

Join us tomorrow night for Game 3 when the The Cat in the Hat comes back, and the Rockies go for the sweep!

Michael Lorenzen will face Walbert Ureña.

Game time is 7:40 pm.

See you then.

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