Josh Naylor’s power surge completes M’s sweep

Published 6:39 pm Monday, April 13, 2026

SEATTLE — The party started before Josh Naylor arrived, but the Mariners’ first baseman became the life of it.

Mired in a slump to open the season, Naylor decided to try something different on Monday.

“‘What’s the worst that could happen?’” Naylor said he told himself of the change. “‘I go 0-for-4 again?’”

He added a leg kick, picking up his front foot as the Houston Astros starting pitcher finished stepping into his pitch, and then planting it just prior to contact.

And there was plenty of contact for Naylor on Monday.

The Mariners first baseman hit his first two home runs of the season as Seattle completed a four-game sweep of American League West nemesis Houston with a 6-2 victory on Monday afternoon at T-Mobile Park. Naylor, who entered Monday’s game hitting .102 with no extra base hits and two RBI, drove in Seattle’s first five runs to provide a Mariners starter George Kirby a sectional-sized cushion.

Naylor appreciated the support he felt from fans, who saw him record 17 hard-hit balls that amounted to just five hits in Seattle’s first 16 games.

“Maybe a few days ago, hit a line drive and got out, and I was 0-for-3 so far on the day,” Naylor said. “And I heard some fan — I try to block out a lot of things, but I heard someone, ‘Oh, keep your head up, you’re good, you’re the best.’ And it’s like, ‘Damn it, thank you. I appreciate that — I’m not the best right now, but I do appreciate that.’”

“This fan base is so awesome. They’re just through it with you, through the whole entire season, the ups and the downs. And you know when you’re up, it’s even better, because this place is electric. You can feel the energy in the ground go through your body. It’s so cool.”

The four-game home winning streak, on the heels of a five-game stretch of losses on the road, coincided with an offense that finally clicked. The top four hitters in the lineup each registered two hits as the Mariners (8-9 overall) pestered the Astros (6-11) with 13 on Monday.

“You want to try to get on base every at bat,” Naylor said. “You want to try to kind of pass a baton to the next guy, whether it’s a walk, a hit a sac bunt — find a way to get a run in. Runs are hard to get at this level. It’s the highest level of baseball. That Astros team has a great lineup, great pitching, managed by a great manager.

“That’s not an easy task to beat them four games in a row. So the fact that we did that is a testament to our work, our discipline on the offensive end, our defense.”

Though stars Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh arrived a little earlier than Naylor, both waited for the Houston series to start slugging.

Rodriguez raised his batting average from .148 to .212 during the series by going 7-for-18 (.389) with his first home runs and first two doubles of the season. Raleigh had two hits on Monday, and blasted a key three-run homer in Saturday’s 8-7 win.

“When you got all cylinders firing, that’s the best,” said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, whose team was to start the “Vedder Cup” rivalry with a three-game series at San Diego on Tuesday. “But, you know, it’s baseball season, so you’re not going to have all cylinders at all times. But to see these guys get to where they want to be, I think that the swings are getting so much better that they’re getting in better counts. Just the contact they’re making — the quality of contact has been so much better. These guys are in a really good spot.”

The early swings allowed Kirby to be in control for much of Monday’s game.

Aside from some mostly soft contact that led to Houston’s pair of runs in the fifth, the Astros struggled to get much going against Seattle’s No. 2 starter.

Wilson visited the mound after Kirby recorded the second out of the eighth inning on a near-inning-ending double play off Altuve’s bat. Yordan Alvarez, the left-handed slugger with some history of big home runs against the Mariners, ambled up toward the plate. With lefty specialist Gabe Speier among those warming in the bullpen, Kirby made it clear he wanted to take a shot at finishing the inning as Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford called out, “Keep him in! Keep him in!” according to Kirby.

Wilson elected to let Kirby face Alvarez after some discussion. While Kirby hoped to strike out his seventh batter of the game, four pitches later, Wilson returned with his hand out to collect the baseball from his starter after Kirby’s lone walk of the game.

Kirby, frustrated with himself after throwing four straight balls to Alvarez, appeared to mutter “damnit” to himself as Wilson walked back out and pulled Kirby after 99 pitches.

“Stupid walk,” Kirby said, chuckling, after the game. “Wish it had gone a little better. But, I’m glad he kept me in for that.”

“Dan’s the best, and he believes in us.”

M’s reliever Matt Brash got the third out of the eighth with a deep flyout to Randy Arozarena in left field off the bat of Isaac Paredes. In the ninth, with a 6-2 lead, Wilson went with Cole Wilcox, who’d made one Major League appearance prior to this season, to finish off the Astros. Wilcox walked Christian Walker, then got two deep flyouts to Luke Raley, who robbed Cam Smith at the top of the right field wall for the second out.

Taylor Trammell, a former Mariner, rolled over to Naylor at first for the final out of the sweep.

The batting lineup’s early surge put Seattle in strong position to get out some brooms.

Early on, Seattle finally got what it’s been looking for all season from the No. 2-3-4 hitters in the M’s lineup.

In the first, Raleigh dumped a one-out single into left-center. Rodriguez ripped a ground ball off Houston third baseman Carlos Correa’s glove, and Naylor hammered a fastball over the right field wall for a 3-0 Mariners lead.

In the third inning, Raleigh reached on a rare infield single, and Naylor crushed his second homer, 112 mph off the bat and 433 feet, for a 5-0 lead. He celebrated his breakout start with a double bat flip.

The Astros put two on the board in the fifth. Mitch Garver, catching on a day that Raleigh was the designated hitter, didn’t challenge Kirby’s 0-2 pitch that appeared to knick the lower outside corner but was called a ball by home plate umpire Todd Tichenor. Smith then reached out to hit a slider into right field for a single, and Tramell hit Kirby’s first offering through the hole between short and third to put runners at first and second.

Yainer Diaz hit Kirby’s seventh-straight breaking ball sharply for Houston’s first run. Trammell then came home when Nick Allen hit into a double play, and Kirby induced a ground ball off the bat of Jose Altuve for the third out.

Rodriguez hit a line-drive single in the bottom of the inning and scored Seattle’s sixth run on a base hit from Raley, who went 3-for-4.