Hancock deals six no-hit innings, M’s blank Guardians on Sunday Night Baseball
Emerson Hancock earned every bit of the ovation. When the right-hander strutted off the mound after six no-hit innings, the 30,800 fans braving 43-degree conditions at T-Mobile Park rose from their seats and tipped their caps.
The four-seam fastballs were lively, the sweepers wicked. Hancock never wavered on a primetime stage, blanking the Cleveland Guardians in the most dominant start of his young career — and he’ll remember the cold, breezy March 29 evening as the night he was unhittable.
Brendan Donovan belted a three-run homer, Hancock turned in six shutout innings, and the Mariners cruised for an 8-0 win over the Guardians on NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball.
“The mentality’s a big part of it,” Hancock said. “Not trying to do too much. Not trying too hard, in a way.
“Just go out there and trust it and execute the best that you can. That’s all I’m really trying to focus on.”
If only the six innings didn’t take him 97 pitches.
Mariners reliever Cooper Criswell entered for the seventh. He promptly allowed a single to Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter, ending Seattle’s bid for a combined no-hitter, though it wouldn’t make Hancock’s day any less brilliant.
“(Emerson) just attacked,” Mariners skipper Dan Wilson said. “We’ve seen it with the other guys, just that mental approach. The physical stuff is there, but his mental approach… he was attacking. He was on the offensive.”
Criswell earned a three-inning save, allowing two hits with no walks and five strikeouts. That kept the rest of Seattle’s bullpen fresh ahead of a marquee, three-game matchup with the New York Yankees at T-Mobile Park this week.
“I feel like (Emerson) had confidence with everything that’s coming out of his hands,” third baseman Brendan Donovan said. “Mixing speeds, locations, eye levels. In and out, up, down, everything seemed to be working for him. That was cool. We needed that.”
Like All-Star George Kirby, Hancock spends the majority of his offseasons with only the music he plays and the nine-pocket pitching net he throws through. No flashy pitching technology, no Trackman.
On Sunday, one of the hypothetical, in-game scenarios he’d replay through his mind in the winter months came to life. He was through five no-hit innings, and even if the prospect of a complete game had dissolved, Hancock wanted to get through six.
He induced a double-play grounder from Brayan Rocchio after plunking CJ Kayfus to finish the sixth unscathed, the finishing touches of a primetime gem.
“Those last three outs… you want those,” Hancock said.
It’s the kind of night that argues for a heavier workload, as Hancock began his spring as the odd-man out of one of the league’s top rotations. And it marked a complete turnaround from his season debut in 2025, when the right-hander surrendered seven runs to the Detroit Tigers and failed to survive the first inning.
“I think that’s just part of this game,” he said. “You’re going to struggle. There’s going to be ups. There’s going to be downs.
“If you have that mindset of, ‘Yeah, this happened, but I can learn from it. I can move on from it, because I know that you can overcome these certain things.’ … Just go out there and take the ball, and do the best you can.”
Donovan reached base four times, finishing 2-for-3 with a three-run home run in the fourth inning. He was also hit by two pitches, both offered by Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi.
Seattle’s third baseman wasn’t looking to homer when he turned on Cecconi’s high fastball, at least at first.
He wanted to bunt.
“It was cold out there,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m looking where the third baseman was, and I was like, ‘I’m not moving real fast today. I don’t think anybody is, to be honest.’
“(Third baseman Jose Ramirez) was in his spot where I didn’t like it, so I was like, ‘Let me just try to get on top of a heater. Hit a low liner somewhere.’”
The blast bounced off the top of the wall and into the right field seats, handing the Mariners a 4-0 lead in their second win of the season. That much was never in doubt.
Shortstop Leo Rivas delivered Seattle’s first run with an RBI single in the fourth, just before Donovan provided the fireworks.
Randy Arozarena roped an RBI double into the left-center gap and Luke Raley added an RBI single to right field in the fifth.
Cal Raleigh’s opposite-field, ground-rule double in the sixth ballooned the Mariners lead to 7-0. Arozarena singled home another run in the eighth.
The Mariners (2-2) split their opening four-game series with Cleveland, now 0.5 games behind the Texas Rangers (2-1) in the American League West standings.
SHORT HOPS
— The Mariners debuted their 2026 Seattle Steelheads uniforms on Sunday, honoring the 1946 Seattle Negro League team. They’ll wear the uniforms in every Sunday home game at T-Mobile Park this season. Earlier this spring, the Mariners announced a $500,000 commitment to support local Black-led baseball and softball initiatives.
— Outfielder Luke Raley launched home runs in each of Seattle’s first three games of the season, tying a franchise record set by Robinson Cano in 2016.
— All-Star right-hander Bryan Woo notched his 400th career strikeout in Saturday’s 6-5 loss to Cleveland, allowing two runs with one walk and nine strikeouts across six strong innings.
— The Mariners will retire Randy Johnson’s No. 51 on May 2, less than nine months after the franchise retired Ichiro’s 51 in a pregame ceremony at T-Mobile Park last Aug. 9.
Johnson attended, seated directly behind his number-mate.
“I am also grateful for the actions of another person who is here — Randy Johnson,” Ichiro said, addressing a sellout crowd. “He was No. 51 long before I ever arrived in Seattle. Without his generosity, I could not have worn that number here.
“When you saw 51 in Seattle, you knew it meant Randy Johnson for his many great achievements from 1989-1998 in that uniform. When I came here in 2001, I couldn’t have worn that number without his consent. He gave it, and he gave it graciously.
“When the Mariners decided to retire No. 51, they chose to have two separate ceremonies, one for each of us. I’m grateful to Randy for attending my ceremony today. It will be my great honor to attend his next season.”
ON DECK
Luis “The Rock” Castillo makes his season debut for the Mariners in Monday night’s series opener with the New York Yankees at T-Mobile Park.
New York counters with left-hander Ryan Weathers for a 6:40 p.m. first pitch.
This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Hancock deals six no-hit innings, M’s blank Guardians on Sunday Night Baseball."
