Jhonny Pereda picked off the go-ahead run then slugged the go-ahead homer to will the Mariners to a much-needed 5-4 win on Wednesday.
With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, Chase Meidroth picked up a one-out single off Cooper Criswell. Tristan Peters followed with what looked like an RBI double, but the ball got lodged in the wall down the first base line, keeping runners at second and third. It’d been a frustrating game for the Mariners to that point, with the lineup struggling to string hits together
once again. It wasn’t an ideal showing after Tuesday night’s excruciating, hard-feelings loss, of which there have been many in recent weeks. With the White Sox threatening to take the lead on a couple weak, seeing-eye hits, the wheels seemed ready to come right off the bus.
Then Drew Romo squared to bunt on the first pitch he saw. It was well outside, prompting him to pull the bat back. Meidroth either took too big of a lead at third or was expecting a safety squeeze, and after receiving the pitch, Pereda turned and fired to third. A pickle ensued, before Pereda eventually tagged Meidroth out a few feet from home. It was Pereda’s fifth caught stealing on eight attempts with the Mariners this year, in just his sixth game with the team.
Pereda was focused on simply getting the batter out and it was all reaction from there, he said after the game.
“I saw him take two steps forward, and I took my chance,” he said.
With the game still tied at 2-2, Pereda stepped to the plate to leadoff the seventh. Again, the Mariners offense to this point had been frustrating. Cole Young leadoff the game with a walk, and was promptly thrown out trying to steal second. Young later picked up a double in the third inning but was stranded. The Mariners even loaded the bases in the fifth with nobody out, only to go down quickly without a run. It was that kind of day for six innings.
To be fair, they had scratched across a couple runs. In the second, Randy Arozarena leadoff with a hit by pitch, stole second, and scored on a double from Dominic Canzone. In the fourth, Arozarena leadoff with a walk and later scored on a double from Patrick Wisdom. But two runs and a bunch of stranded runners proved not quite enough as the White Sox clawed their way back, eventually evening the score.
Back to Pereda: He stepped to the plate to leadoff the bottom of the seventh. Sean Newcomb threw a first-pitch fastball up and in, and Pereda fouled it back. Newcomb returned with a big, slow slurve that hung over the plate, and Pereda saw his chance. He turned on the pitch and slugged it 106.7 mph on a line, zipping it just over the wall in left.
It was Pereda’s first homer in the majors at 30 years old. He said after the game he wasn’t trying to do much and stay in his approach, wanting to get the ball in the air to the pull side every time up.
“And then it happened,” he said. He could tell off the bat. “That was so special. As soon as I hit the ball I was like, ‘Oh my god, my first homer.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
It seemed to start something for the Mariners. Julio Rodríguez followed with a double, ripping a hard liner down the left field line. That brought Arozarena to the plate, who got every bit of a hanging sweeper from Jordan Hicks, blasting a 105.1 mph homer out to left-center, extending the lead to 5-2. In some ways, this was the Arozarena game, but he’s had a plenty of those in 2026, now with a 150 wRC+ on the year (top 20 in the majors).
Of course, the Mariners refused to make this one easy. Eduard Bazardo pitched the eighth and allowed back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second with one out. Peters then hit a double-play ball to Young at second, who flipped to Emerson at the bag, who made a low-ish throw to first. The ball ticked off Josh Naylor’s glove and squirted back toward the dugout, allowing a runner to score.
It was that kind of day for the Mariners in the field, too. Emerson Hancock got the start and was sharp as ever in the first inning. But things got dicey in the second. He completely lost the zone and issued three straight walks to load the bases with nobody out. Hancock bounced back, however, getting Peters to punch out, before getting Romo to ground into a double play.
That was the extent of Hancock’s command issues for the day, though he did eventually give up some runs. The White Sox got a run in the third on a pair of singles. They got another in the fifth on a trio of singles. Hancock’s final line was five innings, five hits, three walks, two runs, and four strikeouts on 10 whiffs. It wasn’t his best start, but most of the bad parts came and went in the second.
José Ferrer took the mound with a 5-3 lead in ninth, assuming the closer role while Andrés Muñoz got a day off following Tuesday night’s snafu. The first pitch he threw was a sinker up and out of the zone to pinch hitter Randal Grichuk, who poked it out right field to make the game 5-4. Things were dicey once again.
And then, they weren’t. Strikeout. Strikeout. Strikeout. Ferrer set down the next three in order to finish off a series victory.
Greeting him on the mound and taking part in the infield’s victory dance was Pereda. It’s been a long time coming for the journeyman backup catcher. Pereda signed with the Cubs at 17 and started in Rookie Ball way back in 2013. He bounced around the minors from level to level, organization to organization, before finally making his big league debut in 2024 with the Marlins. But even then, he struggled to find any sort of regular playing time, with just 118 plate appearances in the majors by the time he signed with the Mariners over the offseason.
As Zach Mason noted in our 40 in 40 series, “if we see him in Seattle at any point this year, there’s a good chance something has gone horribly wrong.” And yeah, that’s essentially why Pereda is here. Cal Raleigh was placed on the injured list last week with a side injury, and Pereda joined the team as a backup to Mitch Garver.
Pereda said he’s trying to make the most of the opportunity and simply enjoy each game.
“Perfect. Beautiful,” he said of the chance to play in the majors. “It took me a long time to get here so I have to enjoy every moment.”
It can be a tough transition for even a veteran newcomer to the bigs, but the Mariners have helped ease the way by encouraging him to be himself and have fun.
“I like to play that way, I like having fun, I like to be joking around during the game. So that meant a lot for me, because like I said, it took me a long time to get here, so I gotta enjoy. That’s why I always have fun during the game.
“I’m going to do it all the time, because that way I can do my 100%.”
