Mariners' offense absent again in shutout loss to Texas Rangers
June can't get here soon enough.
A somber spring slumber rolled along for the Mariners and their lackluster lineup Friday, shut down 5-0 in a series-opening loss to the Texas Rangers before a crowd of 28,253 at T-Mobile Park.
For the Mariners (8-13), it was another sleepwalking performance in a young season quickly becoming defined by them.
They have lost four in a row. They have been shut out four times in their first 21 games, tied for the most in MLB. They have been held to three runs or fewer 10 times.
It's not pretty and it's not getting any better.
We keep talking about it. We keep looking at things and talking about things and trying things," M's manager Dan Wilson said postgame. "But sometimes you look at things and at some point you got to get a break here or there to get things rolling. And just, it doesn't seem like it's been there for us right yet."
Swept in a three-game series in San Diego on Thursday evening, the Mariners arrived back in Seattle around 1 a.m. Friday. As such, players were given a light pregame schedule Friday afternoon, showing up to the ballpark an hour later than usual and skipping their typical on-field batting practice.
During his usual pregame media briefing, Wilson was asked when he might consider lineup changes to try and shake awake his offense.
"I don't know if there's a natural tipping point at any point," Wilson said. "But we are always continuing to ask that question and look at things differently."
He pointed to some struggles from other contenders around MLB as an indication that a lot of teams are still trying to find their way in the season's early stages.
"This is the time of year where you have to be patient. There's a long season ahead of us," Wilson said.
It was more of the same against the Rangers.
And even when something good happened, the end result was a dud.
With two outs in the sixth inning, J.P. Crawford came through with the Mariners' first hit with a runner in scoring position. It just so happened that the runner at second base was Josh Naylor, who just happens to be the slowest runner in baseball, according to MLB's Statcast metrics.
Carlos Cardoza, the Mariners' first-year third base coach, waved him home anyway, and Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford threw Naylor out by 20 feet at the plate, ending the inning and the Mariners' last real threat to score.
"You go through a season, and there are stretches like this," Wilson said. "And for us right now, it's at the beginning of the season (and it's) a little bit more magnified, a little bit tougher to take because it's the beginning of the year.
"But these streaks, these kind of periods happen. I know the offense that we have in that room. I know that the personnel we have in that room - those guys, they know how to hit. And it will definitely be here. Right now, it's just a tough streak."
Earlier in the sixth inning, with one out and Naylor at second, Wilson had turned to Rob Refsnyder to pinch hit for left-handed-hitting Luke Raley against Rangers lefty Tyler Alexander. It was the second night in a row Wilson opted to pinch hit for Raley in a similar situation against a lefty reliever. The move backfired both times.
Refsnyder grounded out to the pitcher. Activated off the paternity list earlier Friday, Refsnyder is off to an 0-for-18 start to his Mariners tenure.
In a rematch of their April 7 showdown in Texas, the Mariners loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against Rangers ace Jacob deGrom. Cal Raleigh drew a four-pitch walk, Julio Rodríguez drove a double to the opposite field and Naylor worked a walk.
But deGrom escaped by striking out Randy Arozarena (on an 82.4-mph curveball) and Raley (on a 98.3-mph fastball) to end the only real threat the M's would muster against him.
Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff homer against Mariners ace Logan Gilbert, who had fallen behind 2-0 in the count.
The Rangers extended their lead to 2-0 in the third inning after Corey Seager came around to score after his leadoff double. Gilbert needed 26 pitches to get through the inning but managed to escape further damage.
Gilbert's final line: 5.1 innings, seven hits, two runs, one walk and seven strikeouts on 99 pitches.
"They didn't make it easy, for sure. It was tough," Gilbert said. "In a weird way, that's kind of the fun one sometimes. I feel like they did a good job and I also made some big pitches when I needed to. So definitely not the best (outing), but I fought through and kept us at a decent spot."
The real story, again, was the lack of punch from the Mariners offense, which managed just six hits, only one of which went for extra bases.
"Things can change very, very quickly," Wilson said pregame. "And this is a team that we know is battle-tested. They've been through things before, and we've come out OK from them. So I think this is a time for patience.
Note
Brendan Donovan, the Mariners' leadoff hitter, left the game after starting a 5-4-3 double play to end the third inning. Wilson said after the game that Donovan was dealing with a left hip issue, unrelated to a hamstring issue that kept him out of the lineup for a couple games earlier this month.
BOX SCORE
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 11:37 PM.