Seattle Mariners' late strategy fails in shutout loss to Padres

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on May 16, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — The ongoing “criticism” about the Seattle Mariners’ usage/reliance on platoons as a strategy has been a popular topic on the yelling halls of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Fans dislike the idea of Luke Raley and Dom Canzone being removed from games for either Rob Refsnyder or Connor Joe when a left-handed reliever appears from the bullpen.

The argument against the strategy was offered another talking point in the Mariners’ 2-0 loss to the San Diego Padres, Friday night at T-Mobile Park.

Clinging to a 2-0 lead, Padres manager Craig Stammen went to closer Mason Miller with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and runners on first and second.

Miller gave up a rare hit to a right-handed hitter when Randy Arozarena’s lunging swing produced a bat-shattering infield bloop single behind the pitcher’s mound. But with the bases loaded, Miller struck out Joe, who pinch hit for Raley in the seventh inning, looking with a nasty 3-2 slider.

The number of angry/snarky social media posts about having Raley batting in that situation instead far exceeded the 43,349 that bundled up and came to T-Mobile Park on Friday night, many to receive the free Hello Kitty sling bag.

And while manager Dan Wilson’s steadfast belief in playing the matchups with those four players can be rightly questioned by some fans based on 46 games of results and fairly defended by fans with a more pragmatic look, the overlooked aspect was the Mariners failure to score a single run or generate anything close to offense over the first six innings against starter Randy Vasquez.

The Mariners know Miller, the best closer in baseball, is looming for the ninth and now possibly the eighth, depending on the score and situation of the game.

Seattle was held scoreless for the fifth time this season.

Emerson Hancock gave the Mariners a solid outing. He pitched six innings, allowing one run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts. It was his sixth quality start — six-plus innings pitched, three runs or fewer allowed — in nine outings this season.

It wasn’t an easy outing. Hancock allowed plenty of hard contact all evening, including 11 balls in play with exit velocities above 95 mph. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, aided by a nifty double play turned by J.P. Crawford.

HIs lone run allowed came in the fourth inning. He issued a one-out walk to Gavin Sheets, who later scored on Miguel Andujar’s two-out double to left field.

Hancock fired a low sweeper away, hoping to get a swing and miss on a 1-2 count. But Andujar made a lunging swing and somehow got the barrel of his bat to the ball, sending a soft liner just out of the reach of a leaping J.P. Crawford.

The Padres tacked on another run in the seventh off Cooper Criswell. Andujar singled and later scored on a fielder’s choice to first base.