Only a week or two ago, the early returns of the 2025 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.
