Logan Gilbert shines as Mariners hand beat-up Astros another loss

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Apr 12, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — Walk-off heroics? They weren’t needed on Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

The Seattle Mariners took advantage of the awful and beat-up Houston Astros pitching staff early, added on runs in the middle innings and got the best start of the season to date from Logan Gilbert to roll to a drama-free 6-1 victory over Houston.

Seattle will have a chance at a rare four-game sweep on Monday afternoon in the finale of this weekend wraparound series vs. its American League West rival.

For the third time in their last four games, the Astros had a starting pitcher fail to give them two innings of work due to injury. Right-hander Cody Bolton, a Mariners reliever in 2025, was making his second start out of the bullpen for Houston on the road trip. Bolton allowed a run in the first inning and exited the second inning after walking the bases loaded due to upper back tightness.

On his 42 nd pitch of his outing, Bolton fired a 95-mph sinker that Brendan Donovan fouled off to fall behind 0-2. Bolton grimaced and walked around the mound, clearly in discomfort. Astros manager Joe Espada and an athletic trainer came to the mound immediately, After a brief conversation, Bolton was removed from the game.

Houston turned to right-hander Jayden Murray, who was recalled from Triple-A Sugarland on Saturday, to pick up some innings.

Murray finished off the at-bat with Donovan, striking him out. He also struck out Cal Raleigh for the second out. But he walked Julio Rodríguez to force in a run to make it 2-0 before retiring Josh Naylor.

The Mariners continued to add runs, picking up two in the third inning off Murray with Cole Young working a bases-loaded walk and Donovan’s sac fly to right.

Seattle tacked on two more in the sixth on Luke Raley’s two-run double into the right-field corner.

Gilbert worked seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts, allowing one run on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Only three times did he get to three balls in a count. The first three-ball count came in the first inning when he struck out Yordan Alvarez on a 3-2 slider.

The second three-ball count came in the fifth inning. Gilbert fell behind 3-1 to Yainer Diaz and fired a fastball on the inside half. Knowing that he’d be challenged with a fastball, Diaz was ready, yanking it over the wall in left field for a solo homer.

In the sixth, with the Mariners leading 4-1, Gilbert gave up a leadoff double to Jose Altuve to bring Yordan Alvarez to the plate. With first base open, the Mariners didn’t want to make a mistake over the plate. Alvarez walked on four pitches, bringing Isaak Paredes to the plate as the tying run. But his ground ball to third base was turned into a quick double play as Brendan Donovan touched third and fired across the diamond to end the inning.

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