Mariners' offense absent again in shutout loss to Texas Rangers

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on Apr 18, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — June can’t get here soon enough.

A somber spring slumber rolled along for the Seattle Mariners and their lackluster lineup Friday, shut down 5-0 in a series-opening loss to the Texas Rangers before a crowd of 28,253 at T-Mobile Park.

For the Mariners (8-13), it was another sleepwalking performance in a young season quickly becoming defined by them.

They have lost four in a row. They have been shut out four times in their first 21 games and held to three runs or fewer 10 times.

Swept in a three-game series in San Diego on Thursday evening, the Mariners arrived back in Seattle around 1 a.m. Friday. As such, players were given a light pregame schedule Friday afternoon, showing up to the ballpark an hour later than usual and skipping their typical on-field batting practice.

During his usual pregame media briefing, M’s manager Dan Wilson was asked when he might consider lineup changes to try and shake awake his offense.

“I don’t know if there’s a natural tipping point at any point,” Wilson said. “But we are always continuing to ask that question and look at things differently.”

He pointed to some struggles from other contenders around MLB as an indication that a lot of teams are still trying to find their way in the season’s early stages.

“This is the time of year where you have to be patient. There’s a long season ahead of us,” Wilson said.

It was more of the same against the Rangers.

And even when something good happened, the end result was a dud.

With two outs in the sixth inning, J.P. Crawford came through with the Mariners’ first hit with a runner in scoring position. It just so happened that the runner at second base was Josh Naylor, who just happens to be the slowest runner in baseball, according to MLB’s Statcast metrics.

Carlos Cardoza, the Mariners’ first-year third base coach, waved him home anyway, and Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford threw Naylor out by 20 feet at the plate, ending the inning and the Mariners’ last real threat to score.

Earlier in the sixth inning, with one out and Naylor at second, Wilson had turned to Rob Refsnyder to pinch hit for left-handed-hitting Luke Raley against Rangers lefty Tyler Alexander. It was the second night in a row Wilson opted to pinch hit for Raley in a similar situation against a lefty reliever. The move backfired both times.

Refsnyder grounded out to the pitcher. Activated off the paternity list earlier Friday, Refsnyder is off to an 0-for-18 start to his Mariners tenure.

In a rematch of their April 7 showdown in Texas, the Mariners loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against Rangers ace Jacob deGrom. Cal Raleigh drew a four-pitch walk, Julio Rodríguez drove a double to the opposite field and Naylor worked a walk.

But deGrom escaped by striking out Randy Arozarena (on an 82.4-mph curveball) and Luke Raley (on a 98.3-mph fastball) to end the only real threat the M’s would muster against him.

Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff homer against Mariners ace Logan Gilbert, who had fallen behind 2-0 in the count.

The Rangers extended their lead to 2-0 in the third inning after Corey Seager came around to score after his leadoff double. Gilbert needed 26 pitches to get through the inning but managed to escape further damage.

Gilbert’s final line: 5.1 innings, seven hits, two runs, one walk and seven strikeouts on 99 pitches.

The real story, again, was the lack of punch from the Mariners offense, which managed just six hits, only one of which went for extra bases.

“Things can change very, very quickly,” Wilson said pregame. “And this is a team that, you know, we know is battle tested. They’ve been through things before, and we’ve come out OK from them. So I think this is a time for patience.”

Note

Brendan Donovan, the Mariners’ leadoff hitter, left the game after starting a 5-4-3 double play to end the third inning. Donovan was seen talking to team trainer Kyle Torgerson in the dugout soon after; no immediate word was given on Donovan’s status.