Chase DeLauter homers twice as Seattle Mariners lose 6-4 to Guardians in opener

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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 26: Chase DeLauter #24 of the Cleveland Guardians hits a home run on a 3-2 count during his first at bat in the first inning at T-Mobile Park on March 26, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Russell Lee Verlinger / Cleveland Guardians / Getty Images)

SEATTLE - Four solo home runs from the Seattle Mariners – including a pair from Dominic Canzone and one from new addition Brendan Donovan – weren't enough in a 6-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on opening day.

Chase DeLauter homered twice in his regular season debut, and the Guardians scored a pair of runs off Gabe Speier in the seventh inning that served as the decisive runs in the victory. The middle of Seattle's order – Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor – combined to go 0-for-11 with a walk and six strikeouts, three each for Raleigh and Rodríguez.

Logan Gilbert pitched into the sixth inning for Seattle, allowing three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts.

Home plate umpire Lance Barksdale didn't give Gilbert a strike three call on a slider to DeLauter on the edge of the plate. It was a borderline call either way, but it bit the Mariners instantly as DeLauter homered on a towering fly to right field that just cleared the wall and the leaping glove of Luke Raley for a 1-0 Guardians lead.

Though he appeared in two playoff games for Cleveland last season and had seven at-bats, the home run came on DeLauter's first official plate appearance in the majors.

Donovan delivered a first of his own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, driving a 3-1 fastball from Tanner Bibee over the right field fence just inside the foul pole for his first home run as a Mariner in his first at-bat. Donovan became the first player in team history to hit a lead-off homer on opening day and its the fourth lead-off home run of Donovan's career.

Canzone added a solo blast of his own in the second inning on a laser to right-center field to put the Mariners out in front.

Gilbert retired 11 of 12 batters for Cleveland after DeLauter's home run before running into trouble in the fifth inning. Rhys Hoskins had a lead-off single off Gilbert and Daniel Schneemann followed with a double to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Brayan Rocchio's one-out double to right drove in both for a 3-2 Cleveland lead.

Raley tied the game again at 3-3 in the fifth inning with a line-drive home run just over the right field wall.

However, a two-out rally against Speier in the seventh allowed the Guardians to re-take the lead for good.

After Rocchio and DeLauter each singled, José Ramírez drove a two-out double to the left-center field gap to score both runners for a 5-3 Cleveland lead.

Bibee returned to the mound set to open the sixth inning before needing to exit the game. During his warm-up throws, a trainer joined him on the mound, and he had to come out of the game without facing a batter. Bibee left the game due to right shoulder inflammation, the team announced.

Bibee was replaced by Connor Brogdon for the sixth instead, finishing his outing with three runs allowed on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Canzone cut the lead to a run with his second blast of the night off former Mariner reliever Shawn Armstrong in the seventh, roasting a 93 mph fastball to deep right-center field to make it a 5-4 Guardians lead.

Casey Legumina loaded the bases in the eighth inning, but struck out Steven Kwan to avoid the game blowing wide open. However, Erik Sabrowski shut down the Mariners in the bottom half of the inning, striking out Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez before getting Josh Naylor to ground out to second.

DeLauter gave Cleveland some cushion in the ninth with his second home run of the night, this one off Cooper Criswell, for a 6-4 advantage that served as the final margin. Cade Smith had a clean ninth inning to earn the save for the Guardians.

What's next:

RHP George Kirby will get the start for Seattle on Friday in Game 2 of the four-game season. RHP Gavin Williams will take the ball for the Guardians.

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