Mariners' Logan Gilbert sets unwanted record in loss to A's

SEATTLE — The pitcher the Seattle Mariners have turned to so often when they desperately needed a victory this season unexpectedly faltered Friday night.

Asked to stymie losing streaks with a strong start or follow up crushing losses with momentum-changing outings, Logan Gilbert has embraced the responsibility that comes with being atop a team’s rotation.

But this time, facing what was left of the A’s, Gilbert set an unwanted kind of franchise record, while delivering an outing the Mariners couldn’t recover from in what would be a disappointing 7-6 loss.

With the Astros (73-69) picking up a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle fell to seven games back in the American League West. The M’s also dropped to six games back for the AL’s third wild card spot.

It’s difficult to describe Gilbert’s outing. He was dominant at times — striking out 10 batters — and an inexplicable launching pad at others giving up four homers. .

Given a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI double from Cole Young and a run-scoring single from J.P. Crawford, Gilbert delivered the antithesis of the “shutdown inning” in the top of the third.

Max Muncy ambushed Gilbert’s first pitch of the inning — a 97-mph fastball on the lower inside half of the plate — for a solo homer to left.

Gilbert came back to strike out former teammate and roommate Donovan Walton for the first out of the inning.

His second pitch to Alika Williams, the No. 9 hitter, was a sweeper that stayed on the lower inside half. The light-hitting Williams muscled it just over the wall in left field to tie the game.

The struggles continued for Gilbert, walking leadoff hitter Henry Bolte after getting up 1-2 in the count.

Gilbert then fell behind veteran hitter Jeff McNeil. His 3-1 fastball at the bottom of the zone was turned into a two-run homer into right field and a 4-2 A’s lead.

It was the second time that Gilbert had allowed three homers in an inning this season.

But the A’s weren’t finished, Zack Gelof made it back-to-back blasts, smashing the fourth homer of the inning, launching a solo blast to left off a 1-0 slider.

The four homers allowed in one inning set a Mariners franchise record. It was one shy of an MLB record of five.

The Mariners picked up Gilbert in the bottom half of the inning. Julio Rodriguez drove in a run on a ground ball to shortstop and Cal Raleigh tied the game with a towering two-run blast to right-center.

But again, Gilbert couldn’t avoid trouble.

He allowed two runs in the fifth inning. A leadoff walk to Williams would cost him. With two outs, Gilbert gave up a triple off the wall in right field that Laz Montes couldn’t quite grab while colliding with the wall. Montes would later leave the game with left hip discomfort. Lawrence Butler added a key insurance run with an RBI single up the middle.

©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.