Mariners dealt ugly loss by Nationals; Colt Emerson homers again

WASHINGTON - At least they got out of this one without losing another key player to injury.

That's about the only nice thing worth noting about the Mariners' ugly 8-3 loss to the Nationals on Saturday afternoon, their fifth loss in nine games on this 10-game East Coast swing.

Sloppy isn't a strong enough descriptor of what transpired at Nationals Park.

The Mariners (37-35) officially made three errors - frankly, it should have been four - and they very much played like a team running on fumes with a second-string lineup at the end of a long trip.

Those (errors) are going to happen from time to time," M's manager Dan Wilson said. "The defense has been so solid, and it's tough when the other team is able to capitalize on that, and that's what happened today."

The M's will try to salvage a .500 trip Sunday afternoon before returning home for a day off Monday.

The Nationals scored three runs in the first inning off Luis Castillo, all of which were unearned after a simple throwing error on Josh Naylor trying to lob a ball to the pitcher covering first base.

The Nats scored two more on a Luis Garcia Jr. home run to take a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning immediately after an error on third baseman Miles Mastrobuoni. (Officially, that play was later changed to a hit for the James Wood, a generous ruling from a hometown scorer for a star player, to be sure.)

Just two of the five runs Castillo allowed over 5 2/3 innings were earned.

"I thought Louie threw the ball well," Wilson said. "He didn't have a lot of luck early, but I thought he hung tough and continued to make pitches throughout and got stronger, I felt, as the game went on."

Castillo got into the sixth despite the shaky first inning.

"You don't lose focus even though there's a small bump in the road," Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. "I just continued to stay focused and continued to battle."

Mitch Garver was tagged with an early error on a catcher's interference call, and a throwing error on reliever Eduard Bazardo on a pickoff to first base allowed another run to trot home easily as the Nationals put the game out of reach with a three-run seventh inning.

The runner at first, Dylan Crews, came around to score from first base - while attempting to steal second - when José Tena singled on a ground ball up the middle. That made it 8-3.

It was an especially rough afternoon for Naylor, who followed the early error with an 0-for-4 day at the plate. With the bases loaded and the M's trailing by two runs, he flew out to end the seventh inning.

"He continues to grind," Wilson said. "He's our leader … and he continues to post up every single day. He plays as hard as anybody, and sometimes it doesn't go your way. But he's the same guy every single day, and he keeps pushing forward, and he's gonna be just fine."

Colt Emerson, the 20-year-old rookie shortstop, provided the few highlights for the Mariners. He belted his second home run in as many days here to tie the score in the fifth inning - a two-run blast in the second deck to make it 3-3.

"He's burned us a couple times with home runs, and just gives you a really good at-bat," Nationals manager Blake Butera told reporters. "It's very mature approach when he's up there for a 20-year-old, and also made a heck of a play that infield in to get Curtis (Mead) there.

Later, Emerson made a diving play up the middle - with the infield drawn in - spun around and fired home to Garver to throw out a runner at the plate.

With Randy Arozarena unavailable because of a hamstring injury, Victor Robles got the start in right field Saturday (with Luke Raley shifting over the left). Robles tipped his helmet to the crowd after receiving another heartfelt ovation from Nationals fans before his first at-bat.

Crews, the Nationals center fielder, crashed into the wall at the deepest point of the center-field fence to make a catch and rob Robles of extra bases in the fifth inning.

In his last at-bat, Robles rolled his ankle in the batter's box and fell to the dirt at the start of a 5-4-3 double play. He would remain in the game, but the moment served as a tidy summary of the day for the Mariners.

BOX SCORE

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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 4:55 PM.