Mariners walk off Guardians with ninth inning rally, win 4-3 to clinch series
By Brittany Wisner, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Jorge Polanco came through in the clutch Saturday night, delivering a walk-off single with the bases loaded off Cleveland’s All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase to lift the Mariners to a dramatic 4–3 win at T-Mobile Park. The victory sealed a series win for Seattle and was the second game to contribute toward a much-needed momentum shift following a rough 1–5 road trip.
After a 16-hit, 7–2 rout of the Guardians on Friday, the Mariners' bats seemed to pick up where they had left off the evening prior, plating two runs in the first inning on three hits from the top of the order. But they would then fall silent for the next seven innings as Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee settled into a groove.
Cleveland scored two runs off Mariners starter George Kirby– an RBI double from Nolan Jones in the fourth and game-tying solo home run from Jose Ramírez in the fifth. Kirby threw five complete innings allowing just two runs while striking out five and walking three, which snapped his streak of 68 consecutive starts allowing 2-or-fewer walks. The streak dated back to April 3, 2023 and was the third longest streak in MLB history.
“I thought our attack plan was really good, he’s tough to square up but we worked him, got his pitch count up...he wasn’t his sharpest today either but I felt like we got some traffic on him and would have liked to scratch across a few more but thought we had some good at-bats.”
Left-hander Gabe Speier took over in the sixth and gave up two hits and the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. With Seattle’s offense having gone quiet after the first inning it looked like that might be the difference in the game.
But the Mariners were able to get to Cleveland’s fireball closer, Emmanuel Clase.
Dominic Canzone led off the inning with a sharp single to right and pinch-runner Dylan Moore promptly stole second. Pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni worked a walk, and rookie Cole Young laid down a textbook sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. A rare wild pitch from Clase and fantastic read from Moore allowed him to race home to score the tying run.
J.P. Crawford, who had reached base in all four plate appearances and was 3-for-3 on the night, was intentionally walked to load the bases. Julio Rodríguez followed with a gritty eight-pitch strikeout before another intentional walk to Cal Raleigh brought up Polanco. On a 100 mph cutter, Polanco punched a line drive up the middle, sealing the comeback.
“When you see that kind of stuff it makes for a very difficult at bat, which makes the comeback tonight all that more special”
Quick Mariners notes
32,211 was the announced paid attendance at T-Mobile Park for the second contest of a three-game weekend set between the visiting Cleveland Guardians and our Seattle Mariners.
“King” the salmon won tonight’s Mariners “Salmon Run” thanks to pushing through late despite a strong effort from “Sockeye” the salmon.
2025 standings, so far
King: 13 wins
Sockeye: 11 wins
Silver: 11 wins
Humpy: 0 wins
The Yellow Mariners Team Store boat won tonight’s Mariners “Hydro Challenge” to tie itself up with the Red Oberto boat for second place.
2025 standings, so far
Green boat: 12 wins
Red boat: 11 wins
Yellow boat: 11 wins
The Mariners won tonight’s game by a 4-3 score and secured the series win against the Cleveland Guardians.
Seattle now holds a 13-9-1 series record and moves to 6-5-1 at home this season.
Jorge Polanco hit his 5th career walk-off and first walk-off with the Mariners tonight to give the Mariners the win...Polanco's last walk-off came on August 18, 2021, also against Cleveland, while with Minnesota.
It marked the 3rd walk-off hit and 5th walk-off plate appearance for the Mariners this season, with the last coming on Randy Arozarena’s walk-off RBI single on June 1 vs. Minnesota.
His walk-off hit extended his 9-game hitting streak (6/5-c), hitting .324 (12x37) across that span.
J.P. Crawford reached base safely in each of his 5 plate appearances tonight, going 3-for-3 with 2 walks, including an intentional walk in the 9th inning....he also recorded his 4th stolen base of the season.
It marked the first time in his career that he had reached base safely 5 times in a single game, becoming just the 2nd Mariner to do so this season, also Cal Raleigh (4/19 at TOR)…prior to tonight, Crawford had reached base safely 4 times in 3 games this season (last: 6/9 at ARI, 2-for-3 with 2 walks).
Across his last 14 games (5/30-c), Crawford is batting .444 (24x54) with 5 doubles, 1 home run, 5 RBI, and 11 walks compared to his 5 strikeouts across that span.
He recorded back-to-back nights with 3 hits for the first time in his career, becoming the 3rd Mariner to do so this season, joining Arozarena (6/7-8) and Julio Rodríguez (5/25-27)…he has recorded multiple hits in 21 games and 3+ hits in 4 of those appearances.
Julio Rodríguez registered a base-hit and a stolen base in the 1st inning, his 12th stolen base of the season.
His 98 career stolen bases are 10th most in Mariners history, trailing Henry Cotto whose 102 stolen bases are 9th most in franchise history.
Cal Raleigh hit an RBI-double to score Crawford for the first run of the game, marking the team’s 3rd consecutive hit to lead off the game…the last time the Mariners led off a game with 3 straight hits was May 27 vs. Washington.
Dominic Canzone recorded a base-hit to lead-off the 9th inning before Dylan Moore, pinch-running for Canzone, stole second and scored the game-tying run on a wild-pitch.
Randy Arozarena reached base safely twice tonight with a hit-by-pitch and a walk…his 82 career hit-by-pitches are the 6th-most among Major League batters since his debut in 2019, trailing Ty France-2Tms (117 HBP).
Starter George Kirby allowed 2 runs on 5 hits (1 home run) with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts across 5.0 innings pitched…he tossed a season-high 101 pitches (61 strikes).
His streak of 68 consecutive starts allowing 2-or-fewer walks was snapped in the 4th inning…the streak lasted from April 3, 2023-June 8, 2025, and was the 3rd-longest streak in MLB history, trailing only Carlos Silva (99 GS, 2003-07) and Hall of Famer Cy Young (85 GS, 1904-06).
Kirby had only allowed 3+ walks in 2 of his 93 prior career starts (10/3/22 vs. DET and 9/22/22 at OAK).
The Mariners bullpen (Gabe Speier, Carlos Vargas, Casey Legumina, and Jackson Kowar) combined for 4.0 innings of relief, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits with no walks and 4 strikeouts.
It marked Kowar’s first win since 9/18/2023 against Cleveland while with Kansas City.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s dramatic walk off victory, our Seattle Mariners will be in search of the weekend series sweep in the finale tomorrow against the visiting Cleveland Guardians. In that finale, which falls on the Fathers Day holiday, will put Cleveland starter Luis Ortiz on the mound to duel with Seattle’s Emerson Hancock who continues to ride a hot streak since a tough first start of the 2025 season. That series finale will feature a “Fathers Day” giveaway as the first 10,000 Dads (21+) will receive “Hydro Challenge” themed socks as presented by Muckleshoot Casino Resort. That series finale tomorrow wraps up the first of two sets on the current homestand, as the Boston Red Sox will come into town starting on Monday.
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