Cole Young’s walkoff hit in 10th lifts Mariners past Mets for 7th straight win
The Seattle Times

Cole Young’s walkoff hit in 10th lifts Mariners past Mets for 7th straight win

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times | June 2, 2026

Coming into a game during extra innings as a pitcher is such an immediate disadvantage. The automatic runner at second base makes it nearly impossible to walk off the mound with that runner never advancing. Unless you do what Gabe Speier did on Monday night. Speier was dominant pitching a perfect 10th inning and set the stage for Cole Young’s game-winning single in the bottom of the inning to ...

Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners steals second base against Bo Bichette of the New York Mets during the second inning at T-Mobile Park on Monday, June 1, 2026, in Seattle.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images North America/TNS


Coming into a game during extra innings as a pitcher is such an immediate disadvantage. The automatic runner at second base makes it nearly impossible to walk off the mound with that runner never advancing.

Unless you do what Gabe Speier did on Monday night.

Speier was dominant pitching a perfect 10th inning and set the stage for Cole Young’s game-winning single in the bottom of the inning to give the M’s a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets.

Randy Arozarena stole third base as Patrick Wisdom struck out. But it was an important 90 feet gained and took some pressure off the young second baseman. Arozarena jogged home when Young dropped a broken-bat single into left field.

It was the seventh straight win for the M’s, their longest since a seven-game streak as part of their closing September kick last season.

After struggling in one-run games to start the season, the M’s are now 10-12 overall and have won four of their last five.

“I feel like in that at-bat the main thing was just relax and just try to keep everything simple, try to keep the approach simple, really,” Young said. “Just put the ball in play.”

Colt Emerson and Josh Naylor homered, giving the M’s 12 long balls over the past four games after hitting 10 in the three-game sweep of Arizona over the weekend. The only other base hit through the first nine innings for the M’s was another broken-bat single by Young.

But the pitching for Seattle was the story and in particular what Speier did in the 10 th. Facing the heart of the Mets’ order, Speier struck out Juan Soto on a 3-2 fastball, got pinch-hitter Mark Vientos to swing over a slider and then won an eight-pitch battle with A.J. Ewing getting a weak pop-out to end the inning.

It was the third straight extra-inning game where Mariners pitchers were able to keep the opponent scoreless in the top of the 10 th and then celebrate a walkoff victory in the bottom of the inning. Cooper Criswell did it last Friday and Luis Castillo did it on Sunday, both against Arizona.

“The bullpen, I mean, just to be able to come in there and shut things down,” M’s starter Emerson Hancock said. “I know for me personally it’s like if I do my job and whoever’s coming out of that bullpen, you know they’re going to come in there and execute, and that’s a good feeling to have.”

The victory did come with uncertainty about Naylor after he unexpectedly left the game in the top of the eighth following his home run. There was nothing notable about Naylor as he rounded the bases, but when the top of the eighth started, Patrick Wisdom was at first base.

M’s manager Dan Wilson said Naylor was having some back spasms after the home run and would be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

Sections 306 and 307 in the upper deck of right field were crammed with shirtless, shirt-twirling fans by the time the ninth inning came around. The last glimpses of the setting sun coming into the ballpark added a spotlight to the contingent adding to the ongoing “tarps off” trend that has popped up around baseball.

Once the sun disappeared, the shirtless crowd started to thin. But those that remained twirling their shirts were rewarded with a third walkoff win in the past four days.

But this victory was another nod to the pitching the M’s have received during this winning streak.

Hancock threw six strong innings and the only two hits he allowed were a pair of solo homers to Jacob Young and old friend Marcus Semien. The two homers were the only hits for the Mets through nine innings as the trio of José A. Ferrer, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz tossed three scoreless in relief before Speier’s dominant 10 th.

All four of those leverage arms for the M’s had not pitched since last Friday. They combined for four innings, no hits and five strikeouts.

“That rest that they got over the last couple days really paid off and they were sharp tonight,” Wilson said.

The Mariners finished May with the most runs scored via the home run of any team in baseball and that trend continued into the first day of June. Emerson’s homer was the third of his young career and came on a hanging sweeper from Sean Manaea, the only mistake the Mets’ lefty made.

Naylor homered on a 3-2 pitch from Brooks Raley leading off the bottom of the seventh inning after Manaea had mostly silenced the M’s for the previous five innings.

It was Naylor’s seventh homer on the year and his first since May 8 in Chicago against the White Sox.

Semien’s home run was his 18 th career long ball at T-Mobile Park, the third most of any visiting opponent. Only Mark Teixeira (19) and Mike Trout (34) have hit more in a visiting uniform since the ballpark opened in 1999.

Semien’s homer — like that of Young two innings earlier — came when Hancock fell behind in the count and had to throw a strike. Hancock missed over the plate with a 3-1 fastball to Young and his 3-2 fastball to Semien was also elevated.

And they were the only two blemishes on Hancock’s line. Of the 20 batters Hancock faced, 18 were retired. He didn’t allow a base runner until Young’s homer in the fifth. He struck out seven and over his last two starts has pitched 12 innings allowing a total of three hits.

“It’s hard to win seven games in a row. I feel like each game has just been a complete team win,” Hancock said. “Tonight our bullpen was great, two big homers and then to be able to execute right there in the 10th, that’s what it takes to win close ballgames.”

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