Mariners get Fried by Max and the Yankees, lose 5-0

Mar 31, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. (13) steals second as Seattle Mariners shortstop Leo Rivas looks on (76) during the sixth inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: John Froschauer-Imagn Images | John Froschauer-Imagn Images This was the matchup in the series the Mariners had the lowest percentage of winning (even while still being favored, apparently no one told the oddsmakers at FanGraphs the Mariners are suffering a bit of a limp offensively), but it was still pretty rough to watch.

Max Fried outdueled Logan Gilbert, holding the Mariners scoreless over seven innings, while Gilbert was fine—collecting 14 whiffs—but not particularly sharp: he missed a bunch of stuff armside, the splitter didn’t have its usual bite, he hung some sliders, and he over-relied on his cutter, throwing it about 15% of the time. But the biggest problem for Gilbert, again, was inefficiency; it took him nearly 30 pitches to clear the first inning, and his pitch count would have been even more inflated if not for a few well-timed double plays. He got ahead of leadoff hitter Trent Grisham, only to need seen pitches before putting him away on a flyout on a four-seamer.

Two hitters later, he again got ahead of Cody Bellinger 0-2 with two outs, but instead of putting Bellinger away, Gilbert tried a pair of splitters and a fastball, none of which he could land, missing armside each time and running the count full before throwing Bellinger a cutter on the plate which Bellinger bopped into right field for a single. Gilbert then fell behind Ben Rice 2-0, resulting in a pretty terrible hung slider that luckily was only a double down the right field line, fielded…not particularly well by Victor Robles, allowing Bellinger to score. Giancarlo Stanton then ambushed the first pitch he saw for a parachute single that dropped in front of Robles, scoring Rice, who was in motion with two outs and giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately, that would be all the Yankees needed, even if they went on to add more later, as the Mariners bats were quiet once again. Max Fried carved through the Mariners lineup, no-hitting them the first time through the order with four strikeouts, a lone walk to Julio Rodríguez the only thing between him and a perfect game until Josh Naylor collected his first hit of the season, a line-drive single into center. Gilbert’s pitch mix tonight was…curious.