SEATTLE -- It featured despair, but never doubt.
In front of their largest home crowd of the year, and within a stage of the season that’s reaching crunch time, the Mariners eked out one of their most thrilling victories of 2026 -- a 6-5 walk-off win over the Cubs in the 10th inning on Friday night.
And the hero of the night was maybe the roster’s least likely, but he sent the ticketed 46,018 home happy.
Leo Rivas, who entered as a pinch-runner for designated hitter Taylor Ward in the bottom of the eighth, stayed in to face right-handed reliever Ryan Zeferjahn and proceeded to punch an 0-1 sweeper into shallow center field for an RBI single. That came with two outs, and it scored automatic runner Randy Arozarena, who advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Victor Robles.
Rivas’ heroics came an inning after Andrés Muñoz surrendered a game-tying solo homer to longtime nemesis Alex Bregman, on a slider that caught too much plate in an 0-2 count with one out in the ninth.
With both Texas and Houston victorious earlier on Friday, Seattle (61-68) needed to win in order to keep pace in the American League West -- they remain four games back of first place with 33 to play.