Mariners hammer Mets with homers for 8th straight win

Not very often will Patrick Wisdom and Jhonny Pereda be the names making the most significant contributions toward a victory.

But when the Mariners are on a win streak like their current surge, it can often yield help from some unplanned sources.

Wisdom clocked a two-run homer early, Pereda broke the game open with a two-out, three-run shot in the fifth, leading the Mariners to a 8-3 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday night before 28,329 at T-Mobile Park.

The eighth-straight win for the M’s extended the longest current win streak in baseball and will give them a chance at a third straight series sweep in Wednesday’s finale against the Mets.

The M’s home run barrage continued and was capped by Julio Rodríguez hitting his 13th of the season leading off the sixth inning to tie Luke Raley for the team lead.

Rodríguez’s homer was the 15th long ball by the Mariners in the first five games of the homestand. According to the Stathead database it’s the most homers hit by the M’s at home in any five-game span since the opening of T-Mobile Park in 1999.

Maybe barrage is an understatement?

To be fair, the M’s did score one run traditionally. Rodríguez’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning gave the M’s a 4-2 lead. But in keeping with the unconventional nature of how they’ve scored during this streak, the third run came when New York’s Marcus Semien and Mark Vientos committed errors on consecutive plays, allowing Randy Arozarena to score.

But it was again homers at the crux of what the M’s produced at the plate, and Wisdom got it started.

Wisdom was only in the lineup because Josh Naylor got the day off after leaving Monday’s victory with back spasms following his game-tying home run. And he delivered with a 429-foot shot out to left-center field for his first homer in the majors since Sept. 21, 2024, while still with the Cubs.

In the time between, Wisdom went and played overseas in Korea for the Kia Tigers and hit 35 homers last season, and had another 12 homers during his time in Triple-A Tacoma before being added to the major league roster.

Wisdom has minor-league options remaining but will be an interesting situation to consider when the M’s roster returns to full health.

So will Pereda.

The 30-year-old, who also holds options, has more than acquitted himself while splitting time with Mitch Garver during the stretch with Cal Raleigh on the injured list. And the at-bat that concluded with the home run might be his best of the season.

Pereda took a foul ball off an uncomfortable area in the top of the fifth inning and needed several moments and a few pats on the back to catch his breath. A few minutes later, he was at the plate and fouled off five straight pitches from Jonah Tong to stay in the at-bat. After watching a pitch in the dirt, Pereda dropped the barrel on a cutter and lined it into the bullpen in left field to give the M’s a 7-2 lead.

Somewhat lost in the deluge of runs and homers was a mostly solid performance from Logan Gilbert. He struggled mightily with Mets leadoff hitter Carson Benge, but the rest of the New York lineup was quieted by Gilbert. He pitched into the sixth inning and allowed three runs on four hits and struck out eight.

Benge ended up responsible for all the Mets offense off Gilbert. It started with a 10-pitch at-bat that Gilbert won with a strikeout to start the game, but Benge rebounded to homer twice – a two-run shot in the third and a solo homer in the sixth.

Raleigh ramps up recovery

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (right oblique strain) continued his rehab progression on the field Tuesday afternoon, squatting behind the plate and making throws to all bases.

He also sprinted the bases under the watchful eye of the Mariners training staff.

On the injured list for the first time in his career, the All-Star catcher rejoined the team over the weekend after spending the past two weeks recovering at the team’s facility in Arizona.

Davis lands on Triple-A IL

Tacoma Rainiers outfielder Brennen Davis was placed on the Triple-A injured list Tuesday with a left hamstring strain. He’s expected to miss several weeks.

Davis, a 26-year-old former top prospect in the Chicago Cubs system, was off to a strong start season in his first season in the Mariners organization, hitting .265 with nine homers, 31 RBI and an .888 OPS in 205 plate appearances for the Rainiers.

The Mariners added him to their 40-man roster on May 18, a few days after an assignment deadline was triggered in his contract. Davis also has an opt-out clause on Aug. 1, when he can ask for his release if he’s not on the major-league roster.