Seattle right-hander Emerson Hancock pitched six hitless innings as the Mariners defeated the visiting Cleveland Guardians 8-0 on Sunday.
Brendan Donovan hit a three-run homer as the Mariners earned a split of the season-opening, four-game series.
Hancock (1-0), in the rotation because Bryce Miller (oblique) is on the injured list, struck out a career-high nine, walked one and hit one batter with a pitch. He didn’t allow a ball to be hit out of the infield.
The closest the Guardians got to a hit off Hancock was in the third inning when No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio hit a groundball that bounced off first base and high into the air. Josh Naylor fielded the carom and easily beat Rocchio to the bag.
Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter greeted reliever Cooper Criswell with a line-drive single to right field leading off the seventh to break up the no-hit bid. The Guardians’ only other hit was a one-out single by Daniel Schneemann in the eighth. Criswell pitched three innings and allowed two hits and no walks with five strikeouts to pick up a save.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the fourth off right-hander Slade Cecconi (0-1). With two outs, Dominic Canzone hit a bloop double down the left-field line. A wild pitch and a walk to Cole Young left runners at the corners for No. 9 hitter Leo Rivas, who lined a run-scoring single to right. Donovan hit a 1-1 fastball over the fence in the right-field corner to make it 4-0.
The Mariners tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Julio Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk and scored on Randy Arozarena’s one-out double to left-center. Luke Raley grounded a run-scoring to right to make it 6-0 and knock Cecconi out of the game.
Seattle scored again off right-hander Peyton Pallette in the sixth. Donovan lined a leadoff single to right and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Cal Raleigh blooped a ground-rule double down the left-field line for his first extra-base hit and RBI of the season.
The Mariners scored their final run in the eighth as Rodriguez reached on a two-out error, took second on a walk to Naylor and scored on Arozarena’s single to left.
Cecconi allowed six runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.
–Field Level Media
