Cole Young, Colt Emerson make big plays to help Mariners beat Giants in extras

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Jul 18, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — The youthful middle infield for the Mariners' present and their future shined when it was desperately needed.

Cole Young did it with the bat. Colt Emerson did it with the glove. Their moments in the spotlight came at different points of the game, but each were equally important in lifting the M’s to a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants in 10 innings on Saturday night.

Young clubbed a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh inning when the M’s were on the verge of an even more inept offensive effort in the second game out of the break than Friday night’s lifeless 7-0 loss.

Emerson came through with the glove in the top of the 10th when he made a diving backhanded stop on Luis Arraez’s grounder to open the inning, threw to first and kept automatic runner Christian Koss planted at second base.

Buoyed by Emerson’s great play, José A. Ferrer worked a scoreless top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning Emerson sacrificed automatic runner Victor Robles to third base. J.P. Crawford walked and Julio Rodriguez, fresh off the seven-day concussion injured list, gave the 43,485 in attendance at T-Mobile Park and his teammates a needed moment to celebrate with a sacrifice fly deep enough for Robles to jog home.

The M’s won for just the second time in the past eight games, but considering how most of the first 15 innings coming out of the All-Star break had gone, it felt significant.

For the first six innings, the second game back from the break somehow looked more unwatchable and ghastlier than Friday’s lifeless 7-0 effort. Giants starter Logan Webb tied batters in knots for the first 18 outs as the M’s put one ball in play with an exit velocity over 100 mph — a ground ball off the bat of Luke Raley. Almost everything was weak, fluttering contact in the air or chopped directly into the ground.

Until Young delivered with the long ball, the M’s had more batters take the trot down to first base after getting hit by a pitch (two) than batters reaching via hitting the ball in play (one). And that one hit was Young’s parachute into shallow left field leading off the third inning with an exit velo of 75 mph — not exactly a scorched liner.

But Webb stumbled after getting the first out in the seventh, plunking Randy Arozarena with a 3-2 pitch and walked Josh Naylor on four pitches. Giants’ rookie manager Tony Vitello didn’t get a lefty throwing in the bullpen until after Naylor walked, and while Cal Raleigh popped out, Sam Hetgens wasn’t ready in time to face Young.

Webb landed a cutter to start the at-bat, but his 0-1 sweeper stayed on the plate and Young put a beautiful swing on the pitch, driving it into the right-field seats for his 12th homer.

M’s starter Bryan Woo pitched six innings, allowed two earned runs — both via solo homers — with the Giants' third run scoring after Raley bobbled a transfer in center field for an error that allowed Drew Gilbert to score.

Woo limited the damage in the third inning when the Giants strung together three single to go along with Raley’s bobble. He worked around a pair of walks in the fifth inning before a wacky sixth when what appeared to be a foul ball ended up being a home run.

Rafael Devers led off the sixth hitting a fly ball down the left field line that appeared to be slicing off his left-handed swing and going foul into the seats. Everyone seemed to think so based on the body language on the field. Somehow, the ball seemed to catch a gust or the jet stream and twisted back toward the field, and cleared the fence in the left-field corner inside the foul pole for an unlikely, unexpected home run that gave the Giants a 2-0 lead.

Maybe there was a breeze coming off the waterfront and down Royal Brougham Way, but it was the slightest of gusts that seemed to guide the ball back into fair territory.

Willy Adames added a solo shot with two outs when Woo left a fastball elevated and over the plate. But the M’s bullpen did its job where Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Andrés Muñoz and Ferrer combined to allow just two base runners over four innings of relief.