Prior to today’s game, the Mariners players participated in the 2026 Little League Challenger game, a yearly tradition at the ballpark celebrating the Challenger League, an adaptive baseball experience for kids with special needs. While a handful of players are regular participants – J.P. Crawford, George Kirby, Luke Raley – this year almost every Mariners player was out on the field playing catch, helping kids run the bases, signing autographs or taking pictures pregame.
“That’s what’s really important about this game,” said Dan Wilson postgame. “Baseball affords us this incredible platform, and the ability to use that to bring joy to people that are challenged in some way…it’s just a really outstanding event, and to have the participation of the guys in that clubhouse to give up the time before a game to go out there and mix and mingle and run the game, you can’t talk enough about the heart that they have and the selflessness they all have and the understanding of the importance of this game, and how it can impact people outside of baseball.”
“I’ve always believed that we have really good people here,” said Emerson Hancock, who wasn’t able to participate this year because he was starting but has in years past. “I think we understand the importance of the platform that we have, and I think we also understand the impact that we can have on kids and people. Any way that we can positively impact someone, just share a smile, make a difference in someone’s life, I think that’s important.”
Mitch Garver, speaking postgame after providing the majority of the Mariners’ offense with a two-run homer, was a bit more direct.
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“We do have good people, and that’s something that I love about this organization, is the people, from top to bottom. We don’t have any turds on this team.”
Today the turd-free Mariners banded together and defeated the Toronto Blue Jays. The pitching was lights out, blanking the Blue Jays once again, while the offense steadily added runs to ensure the Jays wouldn’t be able to come back from what was first a one-run deficit, then a three-run deficit, then four.
Emerson Hancock worked around some hard contact in the first, giving up a one-out double to Vlad Guerrero Jr. scorched off the bat at 115 mph on a sinker that didn’t quite sink, but was able to retire his next two hitters on weak-contact outs. He also had to work around a one-out single in the second, when Ernie Clement – the emptiest .300 hitter in baseball – managed to make contact with a sweeper a foot below the zone and just poke it into left field. But the Blue Jays helped Hancock out each time, swinging early and often and making a lot of weak-contact outs – he was at just 31 pitches through the third inning.
“I think that’s what happens when you’re aggressive,” said Hancock, who threw 14 of 24 first-pitch strikes, with seven of his outs coming on either the first or second pitch of the at-bat. “Sometimes they’re singles, but sometimes they’re first pitch outs, and so we always want to err on the side of throwing a ton of strikes, and if you’re able to get that first pitch out, those are always great for us.”
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The Mariners had an opportunity to get to Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage in the second, when Luke Raley opened the inning with a leadoff double, but Cole Young grounded out on the second pitch he saw, Mitch Garver struck out looking in a full count (burning a challenge in the process), and Colt Emerson fell victim to Yesavage attacking him with fastballs up, expanding the zone and chasing helplessly. That was a frustrating inning after the Mariners had managed to put 20 pitches on Yesavage, who didn’t have great command to start, in the first.
Finally, the Mariners were able to convert in the third, although it cost them two outs to score a single run despite the first two hitters reaching – Victor Robles on a piece of weak-contact hitting that dropped, and J.P. Crawford working a walk. Randy Arozarena moved the runners into scoring position with a good-as-a-bunt groundout and Cal Raleigh hit a sac fly to bring home Robles. Small ball runs are still runs, but it wasn’t exactly a back-breaking inning.
The Mariners were able to double up their run scoring in the fourth thanks to Cole Young and Mitch Garver. Young, showcasing one of those at-bats he’s so good at, fell behind 0-2 but battled for eight pitches until he got a fastball on the plate he hit hard at Ernie Clement at shortstop, who couldn’t get a clean throw off, allowing Cole to reach. Mitch Garver also fell behind 0-2, battled back, and got a fastball in that he was able to turn on and send onto the protective roof covering in Edgar’s cantina. Apparently the cantina needed a little Garvsauce.
“Sundays are my days,” joked Garver postgame. “So that was fun.”
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Emerson Hancock continued to dominate over the back half of his outing, despite a little shaky command at times; he issued a leadoff walk to the nine-hole hitter to open the sixth, always a no-no, but was able to roll a double play ball immediately after; he then walked Guerrero Jr. on seven pitches (“wasn’t great”) but rebounded to get another quick popout from Kazuma Okamoto, giving him another inning of work. Gabe Speier took over in the eighth and put his foot right back on the Blue Jays’ collective throat, knocking down his trio of hitters 1-2-3.
Meanwhile, the Mariners added another run in the eighth off lefty Mason Fluharty, stacking singles together. Randy Arozarena got the singles party started, hitting a ball that Clement couldn’t field cleanly, and Cal Raleigh followed that up with a nice line-drive single to right, allowing Randy to go first to third. Josh Naylor then got a fluky RBI on a single that bounced off the bag at third, giving the Mariners one more precious run of insurance for Andrés Muñoz, who allowed a leadoff single on a ball that was a foot below the zone but set down the next three hitters he faced after that to secure a Mariners series victory.
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The Challengers game might have ended in a tie, but everyone on the field was a winner, including the Mariners, who also brought home the win against the Blue Jays. Pretty nice day all around.
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