Cole Young, Luke Raley homer as Mariners beat Guardians for first win of season
SEATTLE – Dan Wilson stood in the dugout, hands jammed into the front pocket of his royal blue hooded sweatshirt to keep them warm on a chilly Friday evening at T-Mobile Park.
The Mariners manager wore an intense, but satisfied look on his face. His team was finalizing a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians with a solid, though not perfect, performance, highlighting just how it could and should win games in 2026.
In their second game of the season, devoid of all the extra curricular activities and distractions that come with opening day, the Mariners got a quality start from George Kirby, shutdown relief work from their leverage relievers, played exceptional defense and generated offense through a mixture of good at-bats and homers. That sort of balance in contributions is why the Mariners believe a better roster and deeper lineup can lead this team back to the American League Championship Series and beyond.
“It is what this team does,” manager Dan Wilson said. “This what our team likes to do. This is how we play. And tonight was a good ball game.”
Kirby was solid in his first start of the season. He pitched six innings, allowing one run on two hits with two walks, a hit batter and six strikeouts to pick up the win.
A year ago at this time, he was languishing in the Arizona heat while working his way back from shoulder fatigue and inflammation. As he worked his way through this spring healthy, the start of the season couldn’t come soon enough.
“I was super pumped for my first start here back in Seattle,” he said. “Seeing all the fans and everybody in the crowd was awesome. I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while. I was wanting to get out of Arizona pretty badly.”
The one run allowed came in the first inning. With one out, rookie Chase DeLauter, who hit a pair of homers in MLB debut on opening day, was able to lift a low and inside slider just over the wall in right field and out of the reach of a leaping Luke Raley.
“I tried to backdoor and it cut across the plate,” he said.
With some help from his defense, including a brilliant diving stop by Cole Young on the very next play on a rocket off the bat of José Ramírez, Kirby retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.
“There were a lot of great plays behind me,” Kirby said.
Young gave him a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning. With the Mariners having squandered scoring opportunities in the first and third inning, Young brought some of the power he showed in spring training into the cool air of Seattle. After fouling off a pair of 96-mph fastballs from Guardians starter Gavin Williams, Young was ready for a 97-mph that that was left over the plate. He smashed it over the wall in right field, sending the crowd of 36,987 into a frenzy.
Admittedly, it’s a pitch that would’ve eaten Young up last season. He spent the offseason and this spring training to hit fastballs over 95 mph. He took hundreds of swings against pitches that were set to represent 98-99 mph fastballs.
“I think a lot of it is just routine, just understanding what I need to do before the game to be ready,” he said.
Kirby found trouble in an uncharacteristic way in the fifth inning by walking the first two batters he faced. It’s something he’s never done in his MLB career. After getting Gabriel Arias to ground out softly to third, Kirby hit No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio on a 1-2 count with a misplaced slider to load the bases.
But he was able to escape the inning with the help of Randy Arozarena and Guardians third base coach Rouglas Odor. Steven Kwan lifted a flyball to shallow left field that Arozarena caught. For some reason, Odor had the not-fast Rhys Hoskins tag up and try to score. Arozarena delivered a perfect strike to Cal Raleigh with the ball beating the runner by about a dozen steps. The double play ended the inning.
Kirby came back out with an efficient 1-2-3 inning, retiring the Guardians’ 2-3-4 hitters in order to end his outing.
The Mariners pushed the lead to 5-1 in the sixth. Raley, who homered on opening day, sent a line drive into the right field seats for a two-run homer.
The Mariners bullpen closed out the win with Eduard Bazardo, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz each working scoreless innings.
RHP Vargas placed on IL
A game into the season, the Mariners were forced to make their first roster move of the season.
On Friday, the Mariners placed right-hander Carlos Vargas on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain and recalled right-handed reliever Cole Wilcox from Triple-A Tacoma to take his place.
The IL stint is retroactive to Tuesday, but most lat strains require a fair amount of rest followed by recovery and rehab. Vargas could be out at least a month.
Vargas made nine appearances in spring training, posting a 6.48 ERA in 81/3 innings pitched. He struck out six batters and walked four. His last appearance came Monday against the Padres in the final game of the spring. Vargas informed the Mariners during Wednesday’s workout that he had discomfort in the back of his shoulder. He wasn’t available to pitch on opening night.
When manager Dan Wilson went to long reliever Cooper Criswell in the top of the ninth with the Mariners down a run, it seemed like a situation where Vargas would normally be used.
“He felt something the other day and did the right thing and let us know,” Wilson said. “We won’t really know too much more about it for couple more days as we assess it.”
There wasn’t a consensus as to when Vargas started feeling the discomfort. He didn’t throw off the mound in the Mariners’ workout Wednesday, which was unusual for him.
“I think we heard about it once we were here yesterday or the day before,” Wilson said.
Wilcox arrived in Reno with the Rainiers on Thursday morning in preparation for Friday’s opening day game. He never unpacked his suitcase. He got the call that he might be headed to Seattle later that day.
Wilcox, 26, posted a 4.32 ERA in 81/3 innings pitched this spring. He struck out 11 batters and walked four. He throws a heavy sinking fastball that ranges from 96-98 mph and uses a four-seam up in the zone at similar velocities. He throws two variations of a breaking ball – a harder gyro slider 87-88 mph and a slightly slower sweeper slider at 85-86 mph. He’s also replaced his old changeup with a “kick” changeup that has more downward break and ranges from 88-90 mph. It’s something he experimented with this offseason and this spring.
“I’ve always thrown a changeup, and I’ve liked it, but I just wanted a little more separation from the sinker,” he said. “So this was kind of an offseason project to just be able to work that in. I think any time you can have another weapon that can help you get outs, it’s worth playing with.”
Wilcox was designated for assignment in the offseason, due to 40-man roster congestion in Tampa. The Mariners, who will always look for former high-round picks and top prospects, happily picked him up in a trade for cash considerations.
Wilcox was teammates with Emerson Hancock at the University of Georgia and the two have remained friends in professional baseball.
“Me and him are super close,” Wilcox said. “We always talked and compared our organizations and he’s always had glowing things to say about the Mariners. So I was excited about it. Anybody I’ve ever known that’s come from here was super complimentary. It was something I was looking forward to and its been great.”
Wilcox was considered a first-round level pitcher going into the 2020 draft. But due to the COVID-shortened college season and being a draft-eligible sophomore, many teams expected him to return to Georgia. Instead, he was selected in the third round of the MLB draft (80th overall) by the Padres, and given first-round money with a $3.3 million signing bonus, which was a record for that pick.
He never pitched for the Padres. He was traded to the Rays in December 2020 along with fellow prospects Luis Patino, Blake Hunt and Francisco Mejia for Blake Snell. His 2021 season at the Low-A level was cut short due to elbow issues, which eventually required Tommy John surgery. He returned to the mound in late 2022 and pitched a full season in 2023.
Wilcox was converted to a reliever role before last season, believing it was a better path to the big leagues. He made his MLB debut Aug. 28, pitching one inning. He was optioned back to Triple-A the following day.
“It was so different,” he said of the conversion to the bullpen. “It was just kind of getting a feel for it, what works, what doesn’t it, my routine from outing to outing. I was just trying to figure everything out. I feel like towards the end of the year, I got in a good spot for it, so that definitely helped me come into this year, just being a little more comfortable.”
Challenge with challenges
On the first day of the new automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system, the Mariners didn’t initiate any challenges Thursday night. Cleveland challenged two calls, winning one and losing one.
Each team begins a game with two challenges and retains them if successful.
Only hitters, catchers and pitchers can initiate a challenge (by tapping their helmet or hat), and they must be initiated immediately — in two seconds or less after a ball-strike call.
On its first day in action, 19 of the 31 challenges across Major League Baseball were overturned. Fielders combined to overturn 10 of 15 attempts, while hitters overturned nine of 16 challenges.
One call the Mariners wish they had challenged came in a pivotal moment.
Cal Raleigh struck out looking to lead off the eighth inning on a 2-2 pitch that was, in fact, just outside of the strike zone. Raleigh paused in the batter’s box, contemplating whether to challenge it. He ultimately did not.
Sitting in front of his locker late Thursday, Raleigh said he should have initiated a challenge.
“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.
“We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team and nobody wants to be selfish,” Raleigh said. “But it just takes some time for guys to make sure they understand situations and stuff like that. Like anything, we’ll adapt. Like (with) the pitch clock and everything else, that’s kind of what happens. I’m sure we’ll get there eventually.”