Cole Young’s walkoff single in 10th lifts Mariners past Mets to 7th straight win

SEATTLE – Coming into a game during extra innings as a pitcher is an immediate disadvantage. The automatic runner at second base makes it nearly impossible to walk off the mound with that runner never advancing.

Unless you do what Gabe Speier did on Monday night.

Speier was dominant pitching a perfect 10th inning and set the stage for Cole Young’s game-winning single in the bottom of the inning to give the M’s a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

Randy Arozarena stole third base and then jogged home when Young dropped a broken-bat single into left field. It was the seventh straight win for the M’s, their longest since a seven-game streak as part of their closing September kick last season.

Colt Emerson and Josh Naylor homered, giving the M’s 12 long balls over the past four games after hitting 10 in the three-game sweep of Arizona over the weekend. The only other base hit through the first nine innings for the M’s was another broken-bat single by Young.

But the pitching for Seattle was the story and in particular what Speier did in the 10th. Facing the heart of the Mets’ order, Speier struck out Juan Soto on a 3-2 fastball, got pinch-hitter Mark Vientos to swing over a slider and then won an eight-pitch battle with A.J. Ewing getting a weak pop out to end the inning.

It’s the third straight extra-inning game where the Mariners pitchers were able to keep the opponent in the top of the 10th and then celebrate a walk-off victory in the bottom of the inning. Cooper Criswell did it last Friday and Luis Castillo did it on Sunday, both against Arizona.

The victory did come with uncertainty about Naylor after he unexpectedly left the game in the top of the eighth following his home run. There was nothing notable about Naylor as he rounded the bases, but when the top of the eighth started, Patrick Wisdom was at first base.

There was no immediate word about why Naylor left the game.

Sections 306 and 307 in the upper deck of right field were crammed with shirtless, shirt-twirling fans by the time the ninth inning came around. The last glimpses of the setting sun coming into the ballpark added a spotlight to the contingent adding to the ongoing “tarps off” trend that has popped up around baseball.

Once the sun disappeared, the shirtless crowd started to thin. But those that remained twirling their shirts were rewarded with a third walk-off win in the past four days.

But this victory was another nod to the pitching the M’s have received during this winning streak.

Emerson Hancock threw six strong innings and the only two hits he allowed were a pair of solo homers to Jacob Young and old-friend Marcus Semien. The two homers were the only hits for the Mets through the first nine innings as the trio of José A. Ferrer, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz tossed three scoreless in relief before Speier’s dominant 10th.

The Mariners finished May with the most runs scored via the home run of any team in baseball and that trend continued into the first day of June. Emerson’s homer was the third of his young career and came on a hanging sweeper from Sean Manaea, the only mistake the Mets’ lefty made.

Naylor homered on a 3-2 pitch from Brooks Raley leading off the bottom of the seventh inning after Sean Manaea had mostly silenced the M’s for the previous five innings.

It was Naylor’s seventh homer on the year and his first since May 8 in Chicago against the White Sox.

Semien’s home run was his 18th career long ball at T-Mobile Park, the third most of any visiting opponent. Only Mark Teixeira (19) and Mike Trout (34) have hit more in a visiting uniform since the ballpark opened in 1999.

Semien’s homer – like that of Young two innings earlier – came when Hancock fell behind in the count and had to throw a strike. Hancock missed over the plate with a 3-1 fastball to Young and his 3-2 fastball to Semien was also elevated.

And they were the only two blemishes on Hancock’s line. Of the 20 batters Hancock faced, 18 were retired. He didn’t allow a base runner until Young’s homer leading off the fifth. He struck out seven and over his last two starts has pitched 12 innings allowing a total of three hits.