Josh Naylor grand slam lifts Mariners over Orioles

Published 8:29 am Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Trey Gibson nearly capitalized on another impromptu opportunity.

He was announced as Monday’s starter just four hours before first pitch when Chris Bassitt went on the injured list. The Orioles’ top prospect worked through three scoreless innings before being pulled after allowing three hits and his first run in the fifth.

But most of the damage came after Gibson left the mound. Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor turned around a high and inside fastball from Anthony Nunez for a grand slam to put the Orioles in a hole they never climbed out of in a 6-3 loss to open the four-game series against Seattle.

The defeat was full of moments that Craig Albernaz hopes players would do differently if given the chance. The manager wished Nunez had leaned on his strengths, his changeup, more than the fastball Naylor belted onto the flag court.

“It’s not saying that it was a bad pitch by any stretch,” Albernaz said. “But a changeup would’ve been awesome there.”

On the play that ended the eighth inning and wiped a run off the board, Albernaz wanted Blaze Alexander to retreat instead of trying to tag up to second base on a flyout to deep center field by Samuel Basallo. Alexander was called out at second on the throw from Julio Rodríguez before Jackson Holliday touched home, and the call was confirmed on replay review to keep it a three-run game.

“It surprised me that he kept going,” the first-year manager said, adding that he talked to Alexander later in the game about being careful when testing certain outfielders’ arms. “I love the aggressiveness. It’s just smart aggressiveness.”

Pulling Gibson when he did isn’t one of Albernaz’s regrets. The right-hander pitched to contact — he didn’t record a strikeout — while getting through four scoreless frames with six groundouts. Then came trouble.

Three singles helped the Mariners erase the Orioles’ 1-0 lead in the fifth. The last one brought Albernaz out of the dugout to swap Gibson, only at 68 pitches despite the long inning, for Nunez. The reliever walked the first batter he faced. The next launched a ball over the fence, closing Gibson’s line at three earned runs on five hits over 4 2/3 frames.

“Gibson was falling behind guys. The inning before he fell behind every single hitter he faced,” Albernaz said. “I decided that we needed to stop the game there to give ourselves a chance.”

Baltimore nearly fought back after Gibson’s exit and Nunez’s stumble, scoring in each of the seventh and eighth innings against a Mariners bullpen struggling with command. It wasn’t enough. The Orioles left 10 runners on base and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Monday, Gibson’s fourth appearance with Baltimore and third start, will likely be different from his previous chances in the majors. Albernaz said before the game that it’s too soon to determine when Bassitt could return and that the veteran right-hander is receiving “opinions” on what to do with his lower back tightness, which forced him to exit his last start after three innings.

That could create a longer audition for Gibson, who was sent back to Triple-A immediately after his past two promotions. A similar role opened for rotation mate Brandon Young, who’s helped fill in for the injured Zach Eflin and Dean Kremer with a 3.47 ERA over nine starts.

“I’m looking forward to that, but obviously nothing’s set in stone, so we’ll see where we go tomorrow,” Gibson said.

Gibson will need similar success to stick in Baltimore as Young has. His start on Monday pushed his ERA to 4.24 over 17 innings with the Orioles. Most of his struggles stem from falling behind batters, which prevents him from collecting strikeouts and allows hitters to hunt for offerings in the zone later in the count. Seattle’s ability to do just that the third time through the order spelled the end for Gibson on Monday.

“I think just getting ahead to two strikes as fast as possible and then letting my pitches eat below the zone,” he said when asked what he must do to stick in the majors this time. “I think I got to do a better job of getting ahead of guys.”

The four-run deficit that Gibson and Nunez handed a unique Baltimore lineup proved too steep. It featured neither Adley Rutschman nor Basallo to start, the former receiving consecutive days off behind the plate while the latter is playing hurt. That gave Sam Huff his third start of the year and the third time overall this season someone other than Rutschman or Basallo started at catcher.

Basallo is navigating a chronic wrist ailment, Albernaz said Monday, and learning how to battle through it. It’s a “bony growth” that Basallo has dealt with for years and doesn’t require surgery, Albernaz said.

And Colton Cowser, batting fourth, and Holliday, slotted sixth in the order, were both higher in the lineup than they’ve been all season. For Cowser, it’s a recognition of his recent surge. The outfielder entered Monday hitting .353 in June. He went 0-for-5 in the series-opening loss.

That irregular combination failed to break through against Seattle right-hander Emerson Hancock, who has a 2.74 ERA through 13 starts after allowing one run over five innings Monday. But the Orioles weren’t without their chances after Hancock gave way to a spotty Mariners bullpen.

Coby Mayo scored on a wild pitch in the seventh before Pete Alonso stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. A swing like Naylor’s would have put the Orioles back in front. He struck out.

In the eighth, Alexander singled in Leody Taveras to trim the deficit to three. Basallo entered the game as a pinch hitter for Huff and flew out to deep center field, just feet short of a game-tying three-run homer. It should have at least been enough to score Holliday, but Rodríguez’s throw beat both Alexander to second and Holliday to home.

“When the throw is online, you can see it. Just get back to first,” Albernaz said. “Yeah, that one hurt.”

Albert Suárez allowed one run over two innings in relief as the gap remained at three. Gunnar Henderson’s walk was all for the Orioles in the ninth as Cowser struck out on a slider from Andrés Muñoz below the zone to end it.