Mariners' Alex Hoppe soaks in his MLB debut | Notebook

MINNEAPOLIS - With a steady drizzle falling, Alex Hoppe emerged from the visitor's bullpen Monday at Target Field and started jogging to the mound to make his MLB debut.

Was he thinking about finally reaching a childhood dream of pitching in the big leagues?

Did he try and look for his wife, Sasha, who was standing in the uncovered lower bowl, nervously anticipating his first MLB pitch?

Or was he focused on how he would attack Minnesota's Matt Wallner, the first batter he would face?

Nope.

"I was staring at my feet, trying not to trip over my feet as I was running in from the bullpen," he said.

Tripping and falling onto the soggy turf before even reaching the mound would've made his MLB debut pretty memorable.

But once he took the mound, a moment he'd never experienced in his baseball career didn't become too big.

"Just focus like I've been doing in Triple-A and what I've been doing my entire career," he said. "It goes back to some of the mental cues that I've been working on, just how to be in that frame of mind and kind of block out everything else, whether it's the fans in the stadium, the situation in the game, whether there's runners on and it's a close game or a bigger score, the situation is the same for me. I'm trying to put up a zero, be efficient and eat up outs for my team."

Inheriting runners on first and second with one out in the seventh inning, Hoppe ate up Wallner on just four pitches, striking out the right-handed hitter with a nasty slider in the dirt.

Catcher Mitch Garver made sure the ball from Hoppe's first strikeout was saved and not fired into the stands.

Hoppe then struck out Tristan Gray swinging on another slider down below the zone to end the inning.

But he couldn't really celebrate the two punchouts to end the inning.

"I had a strong feeling I was gonna go back out there and try to finish the game to save some bullets in the bullpen," he said. "So I was conscious enough to be like, ‘OK, that's really cool.' But there was still another inning to play in the ballgame."

Hoppe came back out for the eighth and didn't have quite the same success, giving up three runs on two hits. He hurt himself by walking three batters in the inning. It was the first time he'd worked multiple innings this season.

After the game, Hoppe and Sasha took pictures on the field to commemorate the moment. His debut was just as important to her.

"It's awesome," Hoppe said. " She's been so supportive. There's always hills and battles you have to go through, and she's been there for me, both on and off the field. She still pushes me to be the best person I can be, and helps me have that balance in life, where, yes, baseball is a gigantic portion of my life, but she is the other half of that."

Naylor's stolen base streak ends

Josh Naylor got greedy a little earlier than he wanted and it ended his run of base-stealing perfection.

After singling to right field off Twins starter Joe Ryan to start the fourth inning Tuesday, Naylor had every intention of stealing second base to get into scoring position in a scoreless game.

With Randy Arozarena at the plate, Naylor worked to time up Ryan's delivery to the plate.

After Arozarena struck out for the first out of the inning, Naylor opted to try and steal second with Luke Raley at the plate. His jump was a little too early. Ryan noticed him going early and fired to first baseman Kody Clemens, who threw to second base where Gray was waiting to tag out Naylor, who didn't even slide.

It was the first time Naylor had been thrown out on a stolen base since joining the Mariners, ending a streak of 25 straight successful steals.

Naylor started a different kind of streak, getting thrown out again in the sixth inning on a stolen base attempt. He was originally called safe, but a replay review overturned the call.

Also

Infielder Brendan Donovan is progressing in his recovery from a mild groin strain and could come back from the injured list in the coming days.

"We're continuing to assess," manager Dan Wilson said before Tuesday's game in Minneapolis. "I think we'll know a lot more when we get back. But I think that the hope is at some point during the homestand he'll be back."

Donovan didn't travel with the team on the current road trip. He remained in Seattle along with a large contingent of players on the injured list - outfielder Victor Robles (pectoral strain), infielder Patrick Wisdom (oblique strain), utility player Miles Mastrobuoni (calf strain) and right-hander Bryce Miller (oblique strain).

"He's been doing all the baseball activity," Wilson said. "I think the progression has gone as hoped. And he's taking swings."

Donovan was eligible to come off the IL on Tuesday.

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 11:35 PM.