Dan Wilson ejected, Logan Gilbert struggles as Seattle Mariners fall to Padres

The back-and-forth nature of success then failure, winning a series and then dropping a series, which includes intermittent appearances of above-average offensive production then replaced by frustrating droughts of production and competence, continued for the Seattle Mariners.

On a day when they didn't have to worry about Padres closer Mason Miller shutting the door on them after throwing 34 pitches less than 24 earlier, the Mariners couldn't do enough to make his unavailability matter.

Few things went right for Seattle in a 7-4 loss to the Padres that didn't really feel close or competitive after the fourth inning. Starter Logan Gilbert gave up a season-high seven earned runs, hurt by three homers, the offense was forced to play from behind for most of the game, manager Dan Wilson was ejected in the fourth inning by first-base umpire Chad Fairchild and the Mariners dropped the series to the Padres.

Seattle will try to avoid being swept in the three-game series on NBC's Sunday Night Baseball, turning to right-hander George Kirby.

There are many reasons why the Mariners have flirted with .500 for the last few weeks, but haven't been able to get back on the winning side of it. But overall, their disjointed performances in all facets from series to series, game to game and even inning to inning is glaring.

It's one step forward, one step back, two steps forward, three steps back ... only this isn't some awful country line dance.

That's kind of what it feels like too," Gilbert said. "I think we know we're not playing all the way to our capabilities, but it's a long year. Every single year I've been here, we've had that. The biggest thing is not to panic. Second thing is, how quickly can you turn it? Because things like this are going to happen to every team, every single year, it's just how much can you shorten that window and get back to playing your best baseball."

In some years, these sort of disconnected stretches of good and bad baseball would've put Seattle in a hole in the division. But the American League is a mess of teams hovering around average with only the Rays (29-15) and Yankees (28-18) establishing themselves as something more than mediocre.

"I feel like we've got more (in us)," Julio Rodriguez said. "That's just kind of the reality of it. Obviously, we're playing a really good team too, but I feel like we've got more. That's why we've got to continue to focus on getting more out of us and continue to play and find our flow."

Coming off his best outing of the season, Gilbert struggled to keep Padres hitters in the park, giving up three homers over 6 2/3 innings pitched.

Gavin Sheets tagged him for a solo homer to right field in the second inning on an 0-1 cutter that leaked into the happy zone for a pull hitter, staking San Diego to a 1-0 lead.

Solo homers are acceptable in the proper context. But when Gilbert served up a three-run homer to Nick Castellanos in what was a four-run fourth inning, the Mariners' victory hopes were dismal.

The Padres loaded the bases when Gilbert issued back-to-back walks to Manny Machado and Sheets with one out. Xander Bogaerts followed with a single to load the bases. Gilbert and the Mariners thought he had picked up the second out when Miguel Andujar checked his swing on a 2-2 splitter. But Fairchild signaled that Andujar did not go around upon appeal, much to the chagrin of the Mariners dugout. On a 3-2 pitch, Andujar hit a soft grounder to Leo Rivas at third, whose only play was step on third base, allowing a run to score.

"It was a frustrating situation for me," Wilson said. "You want so badly to get the strike three and it didn't happen."

The Mariners' anger at Fairchild was momentarily tempered when Castellanos ambushed a first-pitch slider that hung in the middle of the plate for a three-run homer to left-center.

"The home run wasn't the bad part," Gilbert said. "It was the two walks before that."

When the next hitter, Ramon Laureano, checked his swing on a 1-2 count and Fairchild ruled he didn't go on another appeal, Wilson had more comments, earning an ejection.

"He didn't like the way I reacted," Wilson said. "It was just a frustrating moment."

Seattle tried to provide some hope of a possible comeback, picking up a run in the bottom of the fourth off Padres starter Walker Buehler on an RBI single from Cole Young. The Mariners added another in the bottom of the fifth on J.P. Crawford's solo homer to cut the lead to 5-2.

But that hope ended on Gilbert's final pitch of his outing, which resulted in a two-run homer off the bat of backup catcher Rodolfo Duran, who ambushed a first-pitch fastball, for a 7-2 lead.

Why was Gilbert still in the game? Well, with the Mariners down three runs and his pitch count still in a workable position, they wanted to get every last out possible to save the bullpen, but it came with a cost.

That last homer allowed loomed large when Seattle was able to piece together two runs against the Padres' bullpen in the bottom of the eighth. A one-run deficit would've been much more workable than three runs.

Rodriguez saved it from being a larger deficit, robbing Duran from a two-run homer in the ninth inning with a leaping grab just in front of the "No Fly Zone."

The Mariners were able to get the tying run to the plate in the ninth against right-hander Jeremiah Estrada. Pinch-hitter Connor Joe worked a one-out walk and Crawford followed with a single to right. But Rodriguez bounced into a force out at third and Josh Naylor grounded out to first to end the game.

The Mariners were 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded five runners.

"We are able to get traffic, but we're just not able to get them in and capitalize on those situations when we have them," Wilson said. "That's really been, to me, the difference. These guys keep fighting, they keep putting up the at-bats and sooner or later we're going to start getting them in, and getting them in big ways.

Also

Brendan Donovan and Mitch Garver were scratched from the lineup a few hours before the game. Garver had some back tightness while Donovan needs occasional rest days as he works his way back from a groin strain.

BOX SCORE

This story was updated to change the final score to 7-4, not 7-3 as originally reported.

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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 11:41 PM.