Mariners fall flat in opening day loss to Guardians

SEATTLE – The opening game of the 2026 season provided all the pomp and circumstance expected, including the red, er, magenta carpet, ceremonial first pitch and decorative bunting placed strategically in T-Mobile Park. The Mariners made it an event. But they couldn’t make it a victory.

For the 44,938 fans in the sellout crowd on Thursday evening and those who were actually able to watch via stream or on cable, game No. 1 of 162 — a 6-4 loss to the Guardians — they saw why the Mariners could be better than last year’s AL West title team. They also saw hints as to why this team might not live up to the lofty preseason expectations.

Yet, nothing about the outcome was defining for the marathon ahead.

The Mariners smashed four homers, including a leadoff homer from Brendan Donovan, two from Dominic Canzone and one from Luke Raley. Unfortunately they were all solo blasts due to the Mariners’ 2-4 hitters — Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena — going hitless in 13 at-bats with seven strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the bullpen gave up three runs over the final three innings not giving an opportunity for top leverage arms Matt Brash and Andres Muñoz to enter in a tie game or with a lead.

“Tough one tonight,” manager Dan Wilson said. “We weren’t able to get any consistent traffic with guys on base for those homers.”

Brought in to start the top of the seventh against the bottom of the order, lefty Gabe Speier gave up a one-out single to No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio, who was a menace to the Mariners all evening. With two outs, Chase DeLauter singled to left field on a first-pitch sinker to put runners on first and second, bringing Jose Ramirez, the Guardians’ best player and perennial MVP candidate, to the plate.

Batting right handed for the first time on the evening, the switch-hitting Ramirez somehow golfed a 1-1 slider from Speier that was just above his shoe tops into left-center for a two-run double and a 5-3 lead for what would be the game-winning hit.

Canzone cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the inning with his second homer of the game — a 444-foot blast to right-center. But DeLauter homered for the second time of the game in the top of the ninth, hitting a solo homer off Cooper Criswell for a big insurance run.

Cleveland closer Cade Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.

“This group isn’t going to quit,” Donovan said. “I think we showed that, and we’ll continue to show that. There’s going to be nights where the ball goes our way, and there’s gonna be nights where it doesn’t like tonight. But this group’s gonna show up tomorrow and prepare and be ready to go.”

The Mariners got a workable start from Logan Gilbert.

Gilbert gave the Mariners 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. He threw 86 pitches with 59s trikes, including 12 whiffs.

He allowed the first career homer to DeLauter, one of the Guardians’ top prospects, two batters into the game. DeLauter took advantage of a low slider on the inside half of the plate — a pitch all lefties seemingly love to pull for power.

But Gilbert’s teammates answered immediately against Guardians’ starter Tanner Bibee to provide him with a 2-1 lead.

In his first regular-season plate appearance in a Mariners uniform, Donovan led off the bottom of the first with a towering fly ball over the wall in right field, just staying inside the foul pole.

It was a memorable first impression that put him in the team’s record books as the first player to hit a leadoff homer in opening day in franchise history.

The Mariners grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second when Canzone smashed a line drive over the wall in right field for a solo homer.

Gilbert settled in after the DeLauter homer, retiring 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.

But his run of three scoreless frames ended in the fifth inning. He gave up a soft leadoff single to Rhys Hoskins and then a double to Daniel Schneemann. Gilbert came back to retire Gabriel Arias for the first out of the inning. A misplaced cutter Rocchio resulted in a double to right field that scored both runs and put the Guardians ahead 3-2.

“A bloop shot to start it,” Gilbert said. “I made a good pitch, slider down (to Schneeman). He just put good swing on it. And then made a mistake with the cutter and left it down instead of up. So really, out of those three batters, I felt like one pitch that I wish I had back.. Unfortunately, that’s the pitch that mattered the most.”

The Mariners again answered immediately with Luke Raley’s hard topspin line drive that just got over the wall in right field for a solo homer. The ball had a 114-mph exit velocity — the hardest hit ball in the game.

The Mariners did not challenge any pitches with the ABS system. Cleveland had two challenges, including one that cost Cole Young a free base. Young thought he had worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch, but Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor challenged the call and it was overturned to a strike three.

Cal Raleigh regretted not challenging a called third strike on him in the eighth inning. Replays showed that the 2-2 slider was out of the zone.

“Looking back, yeah, I should have (challenged),” he said. “But I didn’t think it was that far off. It was off, but it is what it is. You learn from it, and I’m sure we’ll get more accustomed to it as the year goes on.”