Mariners waste Logan Gilbert's dominant outing in loss to White Sox

CHICAGO - The one run was never going to be enough.

Even with Logan Gilbert dealing through the first six innings, holding the White Sox scoreless and almost hitless, the Mariners still needed to scratch out at least one more run of support.

Even with all their leverage relievers rested in the bullpen, the prospect of closing out a one-run win on the road seemed difficult if not unlikely.

And when the one run wasn't enough after White Sox took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, the Mariners still couldn't find a way to keep the game going despite having the bases loaded and one out in the ninth.

So much about Sunday's 2-1 loss at Rate Field had the familiar undertones in Seattle's up-and-down start to the season - an inability to come up with hits with runners in scoring position, a costly baserunning mistake, a flare-up from the bullpen and fans questioning about the decision-making process of manager Dan Wilson.

Seattle dropped the series in Chicago, ending a run of four consecutive series wins.

We just came up a little short," Gilbert said. "I felt like that's a game that we'll probably look back and think we should win. But, you know, that's baseball."

The quirkiness of results in baseball isn't something that provides much comfort in defeat.

The Mariners entered the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead and gave the ball to their most consistent reliever this season - right-hander Eduard Bazardo - to set up a save situation for Andrés Muñoz, who was starting to warm in the bullpen.

Bazardo came into the game having not allowed a homer in 17 2/3 innings pitched and 69 batters faced this season.

So, of course, he hung a breaking ball to Randal Grichuk that was launched into the White Sox bullpen for a game-tying homer. Bazardo was up 0-2 immediately on Grichuk. But the veteran bench player didn't chase a sinker away and fouled off an elevated two-seam fastball, keeping his at-bat alive. Bazardo went back to the sweeper that had gotten a swing-and-miss for strike two. But the ball just spun in the middle of the plate.

"He just found a lot more plate than he wanted to," Wilson said. "Zardo has just been so reliable for us. That's a tough break for him."

The breaks didn't get better when the next hitter, Drew Romo, laced a double to right to put the go-ahead run into scoring position. The White Sox played small ball, having leadoff hitter Sam Antonacci bunt Romo to third. The Mariners intentionally walked Munetaka Murakami to put runners on the corners for Miguel Vargas.

Vargas, who hit a pair of homers in Saturday night's win, hit a soft liner into mid-left field. With Romo tagging up, Randy Arozarena made the catch, struggled for a tick to grab the ball cleanly and fired home. The throw was about 10 feet over catcher Cal Raleigh's head and the Sox had a one-run lead.

In the top of the ninth, the Mariners were able to get the tying run and go-ahead run into scoring position off closer Seranthony Domínguez. With one out, Connor Joe and J.P. Crawford both singled to right and Rob Refsnyder was walked on four pitches to bring Cole Young to the plate.

Domínguez missed on his first pitch to Young, making it five consecutive balls thrown. He had missed the strike zone on seven of his last eight pitches thrown. It would've been eight of nine, but Young swung at a cutter in virtually the same spot as the first pitch, popping it up to second.

With two outs, Brendan Donovan grounded out to first to end the game.

"We just weren't able to convert that opportunity into a run," Wilson said.

Sox starter Davis Martin was able to get out of the first inning, allowing just the one run. His final line: six innings pitched, one run allowed on three hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. He has a 1.62 ERA in eight starts this season.

The Mariners squandered Gilbert's best outing of the season.

The lanky right-hander pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit with no walks and a season-high nine strikeouts.

That lone hit came with two outs in the second inning when Vargas hit a deep drive to left-center that just about everyone in Rate Field thought was a home run, including the person manning the celebratory fireworks.

A strong wind coming off Lake Michigan and pushing in from left field, however, knocked the ball down and hit off the top of the wall. Vargas had to hustle for a double while fireworks were going off.

"I thought it was gone off the bat," Gilbert said. "When he was on second, I still thought it was a homer. In my mind, for whatever reason, I thought they were going to challenge it. I'm happy it didn't go out. He hit it pretty hard."

With the smell of explosions still in the air, Gilbert struck out Colson Montgomery to end the inning and strand Vargas at second base. It was the start of an impressive run of outs. Gilbert retired 16 straight batters after the Vargas double.

But Gilbert didn't come back out for the seventh. He'd thrown 86 pitches and seemed to be rolling. But Wilson opted to go to lefty Jose A. Ferrer to face the White Sox 2-3-4 hitters, starting with the left-handed hitting Murakami.

"I always convince myself I'm going back out," Gilbert said. "You never want to go in and think, 'Oh, I'm done or whatever.' But in that situation with Murakami coming up and Chucky (Ferrer) going out there, I think that's a good matchup too. Of course, I wanted to go back out all the time. I'm never thinking I'm coming out and never want to come out, especially if I'm on a roll like that. But we've got plenty of good options, too."

Asked about the decision, Wilson replied: "those are tough ones. I think we felt like we were in a good spot in the lineup for Jose with the way he's been throwing the ball. He's been tremendous."

Gilbert had also been tremendous for the Mariners.

"We have felt so confident about our bullpen and where our guys are," Wilson said. "You get a guy up close to 90-100 pitches and you're in where you want to get your bullpen going. Those are really tough decisions. I thought it was a good spot for Ferrer.

But Ferrer wasn't tremendous. He allowed a single to Murakami, got Vargas to fly out and picked up an out on a fielder's choice. But with two outs, he allowed a single to Chase Meidroth and then inexplicably plunked pinch-hitter Edgar Quero with a pitch on a 2-2 count to load the bases.

Ferrer struggled to put away light-hitting Tristan Peters, who tried bunting on three different pitches. Peters hit a soft ground ball up the middle on a 3-2 pitch. With runners moving on the pitch, Young had one play - first base. The young second baseman fielded it on the run, moving away from first and fired back across his body, delivering a strong throw to Josh Naylor, who made a brilliant stretch to get Peters to end the inning.

BOX SCORE

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This story was originally published May 10, 2026 at 4:48 PM.