By Paul L. Taylor Posted on

Mariners beat A’s 4-1 behind sterling start from Emerson Hancock

Emerson Hancock continues his tremendous start to the 2026 season, as the Mariners clinch an important series versus the Athletics.

If you were to ask the average Seattle Mariners fan who the best starter is in the club’s rotation, the majority would likely say Bryan Woo. However, if you were to ask who’s having the best season to date, there’s a good chance people will pick Emerson Hancock.

Hancock already led the Mariners rotation in highest bWAR and lowest ERA heading into Tuesday’s game in Sacramento. He went on to improve his advantage in both as the M’s beat the Athletics 4-1, with arguably his best outing since his first start of the season versus the Guardians.

The 2020 sixth overall draft pick had been a major disappointment through his first three seasons of action in the big league, but 2026 has seen a significant and impressive turnaround. He started Tuesday’s outing on fire, pitching a perfect game through 4.0 innings.

Hancock finally proved to be human in the bottom of the fifth, as he allowed a walk and single off the first two batters. He would allow another walk as well as a hit-by-pitch in the following inning, but the most important thing was he completed his day throwing six scoreless frames, while also striking out three.

Mariners bats finally come alive versus left-handed pitching

The 26-year-old has now pitched seven quality starts in 11 outings, while also lowering his ERA to 2.78. This game also doubled as a measure of revenge for the last time he faced the Athletics, when he allowed a season-high seven hits to go with three earned runs over 5.0 innings, in a 6-4 home loss.

Of course you can’t do it all on your own and the Mariners bats did their bit with 11 hits and four runs, highlighted by Víctor Robles having a season-high three hits and looking more like his 2024 self. That the lineup succeeded as a whole was important given the struggles they usually have against lefties.

In fact the Athletics had actually decided to call-up one of their top prospects in southpaw Gage Jump, to make his Major League debut on Tuesday evening. However, the Mariners got to him early with three of their four runs in the top of the second, and chased him from the game after 5.0 innings.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the bullpen, with scoreless innings by Jose A. Ferrer as well as Gabe Speier, who had been reinstated from the Injured List earlier on Tuesday. Andrés Muñoz did allow an earned run in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late for the Athletics.

Emerson Hancock discusses his mentality on the mound

Ultimately though, Hancock was the most important factor in helping the Mariners climb to within half a game of the Athletics at the top of the AL West. Discussing his ability to stay calm and take it one pitch at a time this season, he said:

“Yeah, I think it’s huge. I think it’s something we say all the time, and I also think it’s something where you’ve got to have the awareness to know where you’re at to be able to dial it back in and say: ‘You know what, just one pitch at a time’. You don’t know how many you’re going to get, so just kind of lock in and commit to each pitch.”

Furthering the evidence that Hancock has developed his ability to stay calm, he fell into a three-ball count versus 11 of the 22 batters he faced but ultimately only gave up the two aforementioned walks. Asked about getting back into counts on the night and in general, he said:

“I think it’s something that I want to continue to work on because I do think I can be a lot better at that, but at the same time, you’re not out of it. You’ve got to keep fighting. You’ve got to keep making pitches and find new ways to kind of mix and match your pitches.”

M’s now looking to complete an important sweep of the A’s

It always helps if you can pitch with an early lead, but while Hancock admitted the 3-0 advantage did help him, he was more focused on just not letting his teammates down. He said:

“I think so, but also thinking the other side. It doesn’t change your process and your plan of how you want to go and execute, and I think this season there’s been some times where we get some momentum and I’ve kind of given up some runs. So tonight I just wanted to put up a zero, get those guys back going, because tonight was about them.”

Now Hancock and the Mariners have their eyes set on completing the job on Wednesday afternoon and returning to Seattle at the top of AL West. Talking about the opportunity to leave Sacramento with a sweep, he said:

“Yeah, I think it’s huge. I mean, any time you have an opportunity to sweep a really, really good team and a good lineup, it’s a great opportunity, and just the way that we played yesterday and today and having 11 hits, tonight was about those guys and the offense.”

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

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