Hancock's gem, Raley's big night undone by nightmare of a 9th

SAN DIEGO -- It was their worst of the young 2026 season, and it might hold that distinction even after the Mariners clear all 162 games.

Seattle was walked off by San Diego in stunning fashion on Wednesday night with a 7-6 final score and after blowing a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, with its two-time All-Star closer on the mound for one messy situation after another.

Ultimately, Andrés Muñoz was unable to generate three outs in that fateful frame. And after he surrendered three runs while on the mound, he was charged two more after he departed via inherited runners for Jose A. Ferrer.

The dagger was a two-run, two-out double to Jackson Merrill that nicked the chalk down the left-field line and went all the way to the corner.

Merrill had also taken back two runs in the third when robbing Julio Rodríguez of a would-be homer on a spectacular, way-over-the-fence grab. It was the Mariners’ fourth robbed homer of the season.

“A couple of pitches they made contact with that just were not hit hard, and I thought really hurt us,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “And then, just, those are just the tough innings. Those are tough ones.”

Ferrer nearly got out of it, too, pushing Merrill to a 2-2 count that had him one pitch away from averting this crisis. But in that left-on-left matchup, four of the five pitches were sinkers and everything was away -- giving the slugger enough of a litmus to finally connect on one that was up in his wheelhouse.

It was just barely fair -- but with a 105.2 mph exit velocity, once it was rolling, an already-troublesome situation became dire then decisive, as Randy Arozarena bobbled the ball while Ramón Laureano was approaching third base. Had he fielded it cleanly, there might’ve at least been a close play at the plate with a perfect relay.

But even then, the game would’ve been tied -- and the Mariners’ four-run lead would’ve still been spoiled.

“He's had some outings where he's thrown some pitches, and typically, when you don't get ahead as much, that's what happens,” Wilson said of Muñoz, who grew up in the Padres’ organization. “But he's been able to get through it. And again tonight, I thought, with what he did, and I think it's accentuated a little bit with some of that weak contact, but we'll continue to keep pounding it.”

Muñoz, who preferred not to speak postgame, hadn’t pitched since Saturday and has had challenges with a rest-versus-rust dynamic. That’s why the Mariners intended to use him even in a non-save situation.

With a leadoff base on balls to Manny Machado, he’d walked five of his most recent 11 batters to that point over his past three outings, compared to zero of his first 15 over his first four outings. The command issues have been with both his fastballs and his slider, but on Wednesday, it was the breaking ball that eluded him from the outset, as each of the four balls to Machado were way off the plate.

The one he finally executed, to Gavin Sheets in the next at-bat, was connected on for a bloop double with a 55.5 exit velocity. Old friend Ty France then got him for a 74.9 mph chopper that went sky high and over his head, giving Muñoz no chance at a putout -- or any infielder, had he let it by him -- and loaded the bases. That brought up Fernando Tatis Jr. as a pinch-hitter, who fell behind 1-2 then worked the count full and scorched a 101.9 mph sacrifice fly.

At that point, Muñoz only needed one more out and was still clinging to a three-run lead. But he then gave up a run-scoring, 102.2 mph single to Luis Campusano on an 0-2 slider that was way up and a soft RBI single to Ramón Laureano on a sinker way inside.

Wilson then went to Ferrer.

“Muni is our guy,” said Emerson Hancock, who dazzled with six innings of two-run ball. “It's a long season. All of us are going to mess up at some point. We're all a team. We're all family. He's going to turn the page.”

Because of Hancock, and a four-hit night from Luke Raley that included his team-leading fourth homer, the Mariners looked like they’d cruise to a comfortable win.

The sting of this one will be tough to top the rest of the way, but the more pressing issue will be how their best reliever bounces back.