Luke Raley, J.P. Crawford's 6th-inning homers rally Mariners over Braves

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on May 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Defeat seemed unavoidable. The Mariners were trending toward another four-game losing streak for the third time in their first 36 games.

They failed to take advantage of Atlanta’s rookie starter JR Ritchie loading the bases with two outs in the fifth inning on a hit batter and a pair of walks when a perhaps overeager Josh Naylor grounded out to first base.

That frustration multiplied when Logan Gilbert served up three solo homers in the top of the sixth as the Braves turned their one-run lead into four.

You could almost hear manager Dan Wilson saying, “Tough one tonight” postgame.

But that all changed in the bottom of the sixth.

Luke Raley crushed a three-run homer off Ritchie, ending the Bainbridge Island native’s outing and giving the Mariners life.

J.P. Crawford gave the Mariners a lead they wouldn’t lose, smashing a two-run homer off reliever Tyler Kinley.

Seattle’s bullpen, now missing Gabe Speier along with Matt Brash, closed out the 5-4 victory.

Jose A. Ferrer, Eduard Bazardo and Andres Muñoz covered the final three innings for a much-needed victory.

Raley came into Monday’s game with just two hits in his previous 32 plate appearances with 13 strikeouts.

He had worked a walk off Ritchie in his first trip to the plate and flew out in his second at-bat.

With Ritchie having walked four of the last five hitters he faced, Raley had to walk the line between being aggressive and patient. He slammed a 1-1 curveball into the right field seats.

Ritchie exited the field with to a nice ovation from family and friends that filled a large portion of T-Mobile Park. He held the Mariners for the first five innings.

Gilbert gave the Mariners six innings of work, allowing four runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

While the pitching line seems adequate at first glance, Gilbert’s outing was an ordeal. His third pitch of the game — a low slider on a 1-1 count — was tagged for a 426-foot leadoff homer off the bat of Drake Baldwin.

It set the tone for what would be a night of hard contact allowed by Gilbert.

Braves hitters laced baseballs all over T-Mobile Park, but from the second through the fifth inning, the hard shots didn’t result in runs. It still seemed like an unsustainable method to success.

As expected, the continued hard contact would eventually lead to runs.

Ozzie Albies led off the sixth inning with a solo blast to right center, taking advantage of a 1-1 fastball that leaked to the middle of the plate.

Moments later, a familiar nemesis made it back-to-back home runs.

Matt Olson, who used to torment Mariners pitchers during his days with the A’s, jumped on a slider that stayed in the middle of the plate, sending a massive blast into The ‘Pen area — a prodigious blast for a left-handed hitter.

Gilbert’s first out of the inning was a line drive right at Cole Young that was caught.

But there would be no catching Austin Riley’s solo blast into the Mariners’ bullpen. The big third baseman pounced on a fastball that stayed on the inside half of the plate.

Clearly frustrated, Gilbert managed to regroup and finish the inning to end his outing.

Per MLB Statcast data, he allowed 14 balls in play with exit velocities more than 95 mph, which is considered a hard hit. Eleven of the 14 balls in play were hit at speeds above 100 mph.

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