Mariners suffer major case of blahs against Max Fried, Yankees
Published in Baseball
They couldn’t hit Yankees ace Max Fried.
They didn’t pitch particularly well.
And they looked disoriented at times on defense.
Other than all that, a banner day for the Seattle Mariners.
Six games in, the Mariners had their first blah performance of the season in a forgettable 5-0 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday night before a crowd of 32,790 at T-Mobile Park.
The Mariners had little chance against Fried, the veteran left-hander signed last year to a $218-million deal. He needed just 90 pitches to twirl seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Just two Mariners runners — a Julio Rodríguez walk and a Josh Naylor single — reached base through the first six innings, and they didn’t advance a runner past first until there were two outs in the seventh.
Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch and Brendan Donovan followed with a broken-bat single, the Mariners’ first — and only — mini-threat against Fried, who then got Victor Robles to fly out to end the seventh inning.
And that concludes your Mariners “highlights” for the night.
Fried has not allowed a run over 13.1 innings on the road vs. the Mariners and Giants to start the season.
“He’s tough,” M’s manager Dan Wilson. “I think he’s got a good mix, and he’s got some velo when he needs it.”
In a series pitting two World Series hopefuls, the Mariners won the opener Monday night, 2-1, on Cal Raleigh’s walkoff single.
The Yankees (4-1) were in control from the jump Tuesday night.
For the rubber match Wednesday afternoon, the Mariners (3-3) will turn to George Kirby. The Yankees will counter with Cam Schlittler, their 25-year-old flame-throwing right-hander.
Earlier Tuesday, the Mariners announced the signing of top prospect Colt Emerson to a record-setting contract extension, a promising development designed to build enthusiasm for the future.
Tuesday evening, the Mariners took the field and did nothing to build off that momentum.
Logan Gilbert, in his second start, was tagged for five funs on seven hits in 5.1 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts.
Gilbert pitched better than his final line would indicate. He gave up a hard-luck blooper off Giancarlo Stanton’s bat that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and he needed 28 pitches to get through the first.
He found a rhythm over the next four innings, facing just one batter over the minimum to keep the Mariners offense within striking distance.
“He had it all going, it seemed like,” Wilson said.
Gilbert and the M’s defense unraveled in the sixth.
On the first pitch of the inning, Trent Grisham ambushed a Gilbert cutter and hit a ground-rule double to right field. With one out, Cody Bellinger shot a single up the middle off an elevated fastball to put runners at the corners.
Bellinger promptly stole second base, and Cal Raleigh’s throw was wide and bounced into center field, allowing Grisham to score from third.
Down 2-1 in the count, Gilbert left a splitter up and over the plate that Stanton hammered for an 112.8-mph RBI double to make it 4-0.
That was Gilbert’s final pitch.
“Really just taking a chance in the zone; it’s a good pitch, so I like my chance right there,” Gilbert said of his splitter.
Cole Wilcox came in and surrendered a sharp single to Jazz Chisholm Jr., extending the Yankees’ lead to 5-0.
“The last couple guys, I just fell behind them, and then Bellinger got to a pretty good fastball at the top and just poked it through the middle,” Gilbert said. “So just combination of things.”
Gilbert did make Aaron Judge look human for one night. That’s no small feat.
Judge, the reigning AL MVP, struck out twice and grounded out to Leo Rivas for a 6-3 double play.
Gilbert, though, lacked his usual command, and eventually the Yankees wore him down.
Notes
— The Yankees posted their third shutout of the young season, and their staff has allowed just three runs in the first five games, matching the 1943 Cardinals for the fewest runs allowed at this stage of the season.
— Naylor singled to center field for the Mariners’ first hit off Fried with two outs in the fourth inning. That snapped 0-for-20 start to the season for Naylor, who playfully gestured that he wanted to keep the baseball as a souvenir.
— Mariners bench coach Manny Acta needed six stitches during Monday night’s game after Cole Young’s broken bat bounced off the netting above the home dugout and hit him on the top of his head, blood running down his face. Acta said Tuesday afternoon he was doing fine and he was back in the dugout for Tuesday night’s game.
©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.







Comments