Raleigh on not challenging pivotal K: 'Looking back, I should've done it'

SEATTLE -- The pageantry ahead of the Mariners’ most anticipated season in recent memory included a kickoff to their 50th anniversary and their first division title banner in a generation.

But it did not carry over to a victory on Opening Day.

Seattle swatted four solo homers and flashed power potential from arguably its most complete lineup of this era, but it couldn’t keep Cleveland at bay in a 6-4 loss on Thursday night at T-Mobile Park.

Here are four moments that mattered.

The ABS challenge that wasn’t
Cal Raleigh was still frustrated with himself 45 minutes after final out for not utilizing the new automated ball-strike challenge system to challenge a pitch that went for a critical called strikeout in the eighth inning.

With Cleveland clinging to a one-run lead, Raleigh watched a 2-2 slider go by beyond the outer half from lefty Erik Sabrowski, but didn’t challenge. Sabrowski then dotted the lower rail for another called K to Julio Rodríguez in the next at-bat. After that, Josh Naylor grounded out, capping an 0-for-11 night from Seattle’s Nos. 2-4 hitters.

“Looking back, yeah, I should’ve done it,” Raleigh said. “I didn’t think it was that far off. It was off. But it is what it is. You learn from it. I’m sure we’ll get more accustomed to it as the year goes on.”

The ABS system is new in 2026, and the Mariners have implemented a loose policy for pitchers to not challenge balls and strikes and instead leave that up to Raleigh and Mitch Garver behind the plate.

But every hitter has the green light, manager Dan Wilson said. The balance is when to leverage them within game circumstances, which is why Raleigh -- with hindsight -- was frustrated at not doing so.

“We have a lot of good guys in this team, and nobody wants to be selfish,” Raleigh said. “But it'll just take some time for guys to make sure they understand situations and stuff like that. So like anything, we'll adapt -- like the pitch clock, like everything else.”

Living by the long ball
Even on a quiet night for Seattle’s primary run producers, contributions from other bats illustrated the totality of the group’s potential.

Prized offseason acquisition Brendan Donovan went yard in his very first at-bat, selling out in a 3-1 count and showing that good things can come when he takes his shots.

Luke Raley lasered a Statcast-projected 344-foot homer that narrowly cleared the right-field wall in the fifth, scorched at 113.8 mph. He was never able to show that type of exit velocity while dealing with oblique and back injuries last year.

And Dominic Canzone, adjusting to life as a more full-time designated hitter, demolished a pair of solo shots that both landed in the J-Rod Squad to the right of straightaway center.

“I'm just trying to hit line drives up the middle,” Canzone said. “And if it goes, it goes. But just kind of staying with that approach and not coming off of it has helped me tremendously.”

Bullpen management
The game slipped away when Gabe Speier surrendered a go-ahead, two-run double to José Ramírez in the seventh, on a 1-1 slider that was well below the zone but caught too much plate.

From there, the wheels were in motion to how Wilson would use his ‘pen the rest of the game -- notably, by deploying his two lowest-leverage relievers in the eighth and ninth.

First up was Casey Legumina, who worked into and out of a bases-loaded jam. Then Cooper Criswell gave up a solo homer to Chase DeLauter, the extremely talented rookie who was making his regular-season debut, that made it a two-run game.

Matt Brash, Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas and Andrés Muñoz were never legitimately considered. But that wasn’t necessarily a surprise given that there wasn’t a lead to protect and that it was the first game of the year.

“You have to weigh and make your adjustments on the fly,” Wilson said, “and tonight was a situation where that was the case.”

Gilbert’s grind
Logan Gilbert struck out seven and walked none, but two mistake pitches wound up leading to three runs.

There was a first-inning homer by DeLauter, on a hanging slider in a full count. The second came in the fifth inning, when Brayan Rocchio connected on a middle-middle cutter for a two-run double. That came after two knocks on what he believed were well-executed offerings, a single to Rhys Hoskins and double to Daniel Schneeman.

“Out of those three batters, I felt like [there was] one pitch that I wish I had back,” said Gilbert, who was relieved after 5 1/3 innings. “Unfortunately, that’s the pitch that mattered the most.”