Drew Rasmussen shuts down Seattle Mariners in 2-1 loss to Rays

SEATTLE - On the eve of the celebration of 50 years of the Seattle Mariners, the outlook for the 2026 edition of the team is getting bleaker by the day.

Drew Rasmussen was dominant over seven innings as the Mariners' offense continued to be missing in action. After losing 11-0 to the Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon, they were shutout for 26 outs by the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday before a late Julio Rodríguez home run in a 2-1 loss.

Bryan Baker struck out the side around Rodríguez's two-out blast in the ninth as Seattle avoided being shutout for a second straight game. The Mariners are already tied with the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants for most shutouts this season with 11 after Thursday's loss to Detroit. It would have been the first time Seattle had been shutout in consecutive games since June 18-19, 2022 against the Los Angeles Angels.

Logan Gilbert was plenty good enough for Seattle. Gilbert allowed two runs – both from solo homers – over 6 ⅔ innings pitched with four hits and four walks allowed, along with six strikeouts.

Jonny DeLuca tagged Gilbert for a solo home run just over the wall in left-center field in the second inning to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. Jonathan Aranda doubled it in the third inning with a line drive shot into the right field seats for a 2-0 advantage.

Seattle tried to answer against Rasmussen in the bottom half of the second inning. Rodríguez singled, and Josh Naylor followed with a walk to put a pair of runners on base. Cal Raleigh drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but Rasmussen struck out Colt Emerson on a trio of high fastballs to end the threat.

And the Mariners never created another one against Rasmussen. Beginning with the strikeout of Emerson to end the second, Rasmussen retired the final 16 batters he faced before exiting after the seventh inning.

The Mariners kept the Rays from adding on in the fifth inning with a couple of strong defensive plays. Victor Mesa Jr. doubled off Gilbert to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Richie Palacios. A "safety squeeze" bunt attempt by Taylor Walls chopped in front of the plate as Raleigh corralled it to retire Mesa as he charged home. Mesa protested as Raleigh didn't tag him with the ball, but Mesa jumped out of the baseline avoiding the tag to negate any issue with the tag.

Gilbert then picked off Walls at first with the help of a good tag from Josh Naylor for the final out of the inning.

Garrett Clevenger replaced Rasmussen for the eighth inning and hit Brendan Donovan to give Seattle its first baserunner since the second inning. Emerson added a one-out single to put two runners on before Tampa gave the ball to side-arm right-hander Kevin Kelly.

Kelly escaped the jam by striking out Taylor Ward and forcing a groundout to first base from Cole Young.

Rodríguez drove a 1-1 changeup from Baker over the left field wall to thwart the shutout bid by the Rays. Baker bounced back to strike out Naylor on three straight pitches as he watched a changeup at the knees for the final out of the game.

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