Mariners' rookie sensation Colt Emerson a late scratch from lineup

BALTIMORE - The Mariners, suddenly, are digging deep into their infield depth chart.

An hour before Monday's first pitch against the Orioles, Colt Emerson was scratched from the Mariners lineup because of what the team was calling back tightness.

Emerson, 20, went through regular pregame infield drills at shortstop, during which he felt some discomfort, M's manager Dan Wilson said postgame.

A little bit of a back spasm during the warm-up today when he was taking ground balls," Wilson said. "Don't expect it to be long. He's day-to-day."

Emerson's late scratch came just two hours after the Mariners placed veteran shortstop J.P. Crawford on the 10-day injured list with a right hand contusion after he was hit by a pitch from Detroit's Framber Valdez on Friday.

Cole Young, the Mariners' 22-year-old ironman second baseman, shifted over to shortstop to take Emerson's spot on the field. Young has started all 66 games for the M's this season at second base.

It was Young's first career start at shortstop. He made one cameo appearance at shortstop as a rookie last year, replacing Crawford for the final two innings of a blowout victory over the Athletics last August.

Veteran Patrick Wisdom made his third straight start at third base.

Ryan Bliss, called up from Triple-A earlier in the day to replace Crawford, was inserted into the lineup at second base, batting ninth.

Bliss drove in the Mariners' first run on a sacrifice fly to score Dominic Canzone from third base in the fifth inning Monday. He also made a nice leaping catch and tag on a throw from Julio Rodríguez at second base to end the eighth inning.

"Big shoutout to Bliss," M's first baseman Josh Naylor said. "He found out maybe like an hour before the game (that he was in the lineup), and he was ready to play.

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 4:50 PM.