Brave in the Face of Adversity: Mariners Use Five-Run 6th Inning to Take Series Opener Against Atlanta
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Facing the MLB leading Atlanta Braves in the series after being swept in three games by the kansas City Royals isn’t exactly an optimal turn in the schedule for the Seattle Mariners, and things appeared grim through the top of the sixth inning. Atlanta had clubbed four solo home runs off Seattle starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, and the Mariners offense had just squandered a bases loaded scenario the frame before, as self inflicted wounds hurt them with traffic on in the innings before that. A few walks off Bainbridge native JR Ritchie in the bottom of the sixth set the table for a struggling Luke Raley, whose three-run shot sent a jolt of energy into the Seattle dugout en route to a five-run frame that would propel the Mariners to victory.
UW women’s soccer head coach Nicole Van Dyke, joined by her 2025 team that reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, threw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the Seattle Mariners win over the Atlanta Braves on May 4th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Frustration had been mounting amongst the Mariners fanbase after that sweep at the hands of a Royals team that had largely struggled before coming to T-Mobile Park, and emotions began to bubble again to begin this series as Drake Baldwin’s leadoff homer got the Braves on the board right away. Logan Gilbert had slotted a slider at the bottom of the zone, so it’s not like it was a dead red ball, but Baldwin was able to put a barrel on it and give Atlanta an immediate advantage.
Gilbert was able to move past the leadoff homer, turning things over to his lineup in hopes of a response. It was an odd bottom of the first, as recently activated catcher Sean Murphy burned both of the Braves’ ABS challenges in the first two batters that JR Ritchie faced on the night, the first on a clear fourth ball to walk J.P. Crawford and the second on a third ball to create a full count for Julio Rodríguez.
The Mariners saw a few hard-hit balls in that frame, from Rodríguez and Josh Naylor, but Julio’s was simply a flyout, and Naylor lined out into an unassisted double play.
Logan Gilbert used a 5-4-3 double play to face the minimum in the second and get the game back in the batters box for his teammates, and there was some hope that Seattle could strike thanks to runners on first and second with one out behind a Randy Arozarena single and walk by Luke Raley, but flyouts from Cole Young and Mitch Garver represented some more struggles with traffic on the bases.
The top of the third represented what we’ve come to see often from Gilbert in the 2026 season, a laborious effort that required a lot of pitches and some danger on the bases before getting out of the frame. A Jorge Mateo single on a grounder to J.P. Crawford was accompanied by walks from Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson to lead the bases with two outs, but a lineout right to Randy Arozarena ensured that Atlanta was not going to add on just yet.
Bainbridge native JR Ritchie got the start on the mound for the Atlanta Braves against the Seattle Mariners on May 4th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
A quiet bottom of the third and top of the fourth pushed the game to the bottom of that latter frame, with continued frustrations of bad luck hurting the Mariners once again. Josh Naylor singled to lead the inning off, but a 5-4-3 double play that Randy Arozarena grounded into denied Seattle an opportunity to break the shutout that JR Ritchie was working.
After Logan Gilbert faced the minimum for the second inning in a row, the bottom of the fifth appeared to be the breakthrough offensively that the Mariners needed, considering that their starter had found a way to bunker down after the leadoff home run. The inning didn’t start in ideal fashion, with Cole Young and Mitch Garver both grounding out, but the next three batters found ways to apply pressure and get on base.
Leo Rivas was hit by a pitch before J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez worked walks, providing Josh Naylor with a major opportunity to cash in with two outs. Ritchie continued to struggle with command, throwing Naylor two pitches out of the zone, but Josh was in swing mode, and back-to-back pitches above or at the top of the zone saw him foul one off before being jammed on a fastball to ground out softly to first.
Down a run and having just wasted a massive moment with the bags packed against a young starter, it was easy in the moment to be doubtful of Seattle’s chances at a comeback. Those doubts only grew in the top of the sixth inning, as Logan Gilbert’s momentum in the game after two quick frames was halted in thumping fashion.
A fastball that took up too much of the center of the plate was hammered by Ozzie Albies for a solo homer to center field to lead off the inning, followed by Matt Olson’s solo shot that came off a slider at the bottom of the zone, similar to Baldwin’s first-inning homer. After a lineout by Mauricio Dubón to Cole Young at second base, the third solo home run of the inning was clubbed by Austin Riley, as the third baseman turned on a fastball inside and sent it over the Mariners' bullpen in left-center field. Gilbert made quick work of Mike Yastrzemski and Sean Murphy to get out of the inning, but the damage had been done, and the deficit had risen.
With a four-run deficit, which felt like multiples of four given Seattle’s struggles at the plate, the Mariners went back to work on Braves starter and Bainbridge native JR Ritchie. Walks from Randy Arozarena and Dominic Canzone, neither really coming close to any other outcome, drew a mound visit before Luke Raley stepped into the batter’s box. Although he’d started the season well at the plate, Raley had scuffled a bit in recent memory, collecting just two hits in his last 34 plate appearances.
Thanks to some adjustments with hitting coach Edgar Martinez, Raley had made the necessary changes and was ready for this massive moment. Raley took advantage of Ritchie’s failure to locate his curveball, hammering one that landed in the heart of the plate, sending it to the stands in right-center field. Seattle had drawn four walks on Ritchie across the past five batters, and Raley had helped the Mariners cash in.
“A little bit of both, we just worked on some things yesterday int he cage. Just a little bit of both celebration and thank you. He’s always good to talk to, and obviously having a guy like that in the cage and being able to work with him is always nice.”
Seattle Mariners right fielder Luke Raley hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Atlanta Braves on May 4th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Atlanta went to their bullpen after Raley’s rocket of a home run, calling on Tyler Kinley to try and get the game back in check. It appeared the Braves were going to succeed in doing so, as Cole Young struck out on a foul tip for the first out of the inning, but a Mitch Garver walk on four pitches kept things rolling for the Mariners. Leo Rivas struck out to put the chances of Seattle finding a way to push a fourth run across in jeopardy, but it also saw the lineup turnover to leadoff man J.P. Crawford, who has delivered a number of times for the Mariners in clutch moments.
Crawford had to battle against Kinley, fighting off a few tough pitches, before turning on a slider low and inside and lacing it into the right field stands for a two-run shot that gave Seattle a 5-4 lead. Finally, after several attempts to scrape a run across with all the free passes they had gotten from Ritchie, the Mariners were able to capitalize, and it felt as though all of the energy had shifted in their favor.
“It was awesome to see, I think there was just a ton of momentum guys were feeding off each other there. Just finding a way to push them across when it was tough for half the night, and then kind of got that spark going, it’s fun to see.”
Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford hit a go-ahead two-run home run against the Atlanta Braves on May 4th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
The top of the seventh saw José A. Ferrer take over for Logan Gilbert, positioning him for a few innings of work so that the left-hander could eventually get to the top of the lineup and face key lefties Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson atop the Braves lineup. Ferrer retired the side of Jorge Mateo, Drake Baldwin, and Ozzie Albies to ensure that there was no immediate answer from Atlanta.
The bottom of the seventh saw the Mariners create more traffic on the bases, with a leadoff double by Josh Naylor off left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer getting the ball rolling. Facing a lefty, Seattle manager Dan Wilson pinch hit Rob Refsnyder for Dominic Canzone and Connor Joe for Luke Raley, with Refsnyder singling and Joe walking to load the bases with one out. While the prospects for adding on seemed good, the Mariners failed to give themselves any breathing room as Cole Young was in full swing mode and struck out before Mitch Garver lined out.
Ferrer got Matt Olson to fly out to lead off the eighth inning, doing the intended job of taking care of Atlanta’s lefties atop their lineup. After the first out, Wilson turned to Eduard Bazardo to help bridge the gap to the ninth inning and Andrés Muñoz’s territory. Bazardo struck out Mauricio Dubón and worked around a two-out single by Austin Riley, getting Mike Yastrzemski to pop out to finish off the eighth.
Seattle did little to pad their lead in the bottom of the eighth, so Andrés Muñoz took over in the ninth with just the one-run lead. Two quick strikeouts put Muñoz in the driver's seat before a pinch-hit single from Dominic Smith created some tension. Drake Baldwin, who had opened the game with his solo home run, stepped into the batter's box with the tying run now on second, but he was unable to assume the role of hero as he grounded out and the Mariners earned a big series-opening victory.
“It was a good win on both sides, pitching side and offensively. Luke [Raley] really jump started that whole game for us with that big homer, got a pulse in everybody and right back in the game. Luke definitely had a big at bat for us.”
Seattle Mariners reliever Andrés Muñoz got the save against the Atlanta Braves on May 4th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Quick notes, from Mariners PR
26,934 was the announced paid attendance at T-Mobile Park for tonight’s game between the visiting Atlanta Braves and our Seattle Mariners.
Seattle overcame a 4-0 deficit to rally back and win…marked its second-largest comeback win of the season, trailing only its 5-run comeback on April 11, an 8-7 home win over the Astros.
Luke Raley hit a 3-run home run in the 6th inning for his 6th home run of the season (last: 4/18 vs. TEX).
J.P. Crawford hit the go-ahead 2-run home run in the 6th inning, his 3rd home run of the season.
Marked his 2nd go-ahead home run of the season (also: solo HR on 4/29 at MIN) and his 37th career go-ahead homer.
He also drew 2 walks, including a leadoff walk.
His 21 leadoff walks since 2023 lead MLB, ahead of Kyle Schwarber (18).
His 28 career leadoff walks are most among Mariners, ahead of Ichiro Suzuki (23).
It marked his 7th career game with a home run and 2+ walks, having also done so on April 29 at Minnesota…had not done so prior since June 2024.
Raley and Crawford each homered in the 6th inning, marking the first time the Mariners have hit multiple homers in a single inning this season.
The Mariners also scored 5 runs in the 6th inning, tied for the most runs they have scored in a single inning this season (also: 4/11 vs. HOU, 5th inning).
The Mariners have hit 16 go-ahead home runs this season, 3rd most in MLB trailing NYY (24 HR) and ATL (18 HR)
Josh Naylor went 2-for-4 with a double and has hit safely in all 4 games in May so far.
Has also hit safely in 11 of his last 14 games (4/17-c), batting .377 (20x543 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 10 RBI, 4 stolen bases and 5 walks across the 14-game stretch.
Randy Arozarena singled in the 2nd inning and also recorded a stolen base in the 2nd inning (off Ritchie), his 8th of the season…his 8 stolen bases are currently 6th-most in the American League.
Starter Logan Gilbert threw 6.0 innings, allowing 4 runs (4 ER) on 6 hits (4 HR) with 2 walks allowed to 4 strikeouts…he threw 89 pitches (59 strikes) in his 8th start of the season and 6th home start of the year.
He now has 486 career strikeouts at home, surpassing Mike Moore (485 SO) for the 5th-most in Mariners history.
The Mariners bullpen (Jose A. Ferrer, Eduard Bazardo, Andrés Muñoz) combined for 3.0 shutout innings of relief.
Ferrer threw 1.1 innings, allowing 1 hit to 1 strikeout…across his last 8 appearances (4/22-c), he has allowed 1 earned run to 6 strikeouts over 9.1 innings of work, throwing more than 1 inning in 3 of those games.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s home win over the Atlanta Braves in comeback fashion to open the three-game weekend series, tomorrow’s game two could give the Seattle Mariners a bounce-back series win. Tomorrow’s contest, a Tuesday, May 5th game with a first pitch time of 6:40 PM PDT, will pit Mariners right-handed pitcher George Kirby against Braves right-handed pitcher Bryce Elder. Of his seven starts so far this season, Elder has only failed to reach the six-inning mark twice. While that can seem daunting, he has surrendered three or more runs in two of his last three outings, so he’s not bulletproof. For Kirby, he started the season off in impressive fashion by going six or more innings in his first four starts, and he has gone five and two-thirds innings or more in every start he’s made so far this year. Outside of tough outings against the Yankees and Rangers, he’s conceded just two or fewer runs in every outing.
Off the diamond, it’s the second of three consecutive Mariners Value Games, as fans can get into the ballpark for under $12. Fans can also take advantage of the Mariners Value Menu and Mariners Value Beer options for all 81 home games. For more information, visit Mariners.com/Value. There are two theme nights for this game, as it’s Emo Night and the first of two Nurse Appreciation Nights (Both sold out). Emo Night is back at T-Mobile Park, and this ticket special lets fans take home a Mariners-themed Emo T-Shirt. While both Nurse Appreciation Nights are sold out, those who did purchase tickets to the event can celebrate healthcare workers across the Pacific Northwest with an exclusive Mariners-themed Nurse Appreciation jersey. Fans can visit Section 124 to create thank-you cards, connect with recruitment staff, and enjoy free swag courtesy of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (while supplies last).
Storm star rookie Flau’jae Johnson will throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of this game, while McAuliffe Elementary will perform the National Anthem.
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