Guardians
Chase DeLauter strikes again, but it isn’t enough as Guardians fall to Mariners, 5-1
Updated: Mar. 28, 2026, 12:12 p.m.|Published: Mar. 28, 2026, 12:18 a.m.
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
SEATTLE — The Chase DeLauter story continued Friday night in the March chill of T-Mobile Park.
DeLauter homered in his first at-bat just as he did in Thursday night’s season opener. It wasn’t enough to keep the Guardians from losing, 5-1, to the Mariners, but it was more than enough to fuel his growing legend.
After becoming the first Cleveland player to hit two homers in his first official major-league game Thursday, he became the fifth Cleveland player to homer in the first two regular season games of his career on Friday along with Chris Gimenez, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Josh Bard and Earl Averill.
DeLauter’s homer, however, proved to be the lone bright spot for the Guardians.
The offense couldn’t add to its 1-0 lead and the pitching, the best part of the roster, couldn’t protect it.
DeLauter said he’s never been on a streak like this.
“One time I homered in back-to-back games in the minors, but never something like this,” he said.
People are starting to notice. Asked if his phone has been “blowing up” since Thursday night, DeLauter took out his phone and said, “I’ve got 804 unread text messages.”
DeLauter said he’d get back to the people closest to him, but added, “If anyone is listening, I’m sorry I’m just not going to get to all of them.”
Gavin Williams (0-1, 5.40) ran into an old problem in his first start of the season. Williams, who led the AL with 89 walks last year, walked six in five innings Friday.
Four of the six walks didn’t turn into runs. But walks Nos. 4 and 5 issued in the fourth inning really stung Williams.
Williams walked Randy Arozarena with one out. When Williams struck out Luke Raley, Arozarena stole second. Then Williams walked Dominic Calzone on four straight pitches to bring Cole Young to the plate.
Young struck out three straight times on Thursday. He also struck out against Williams in the second inning. In the fourth, however, Young yanked a 97-mph fastball into the right field seats for a 3-1 lead.
The Guardians had a chance to get back in the game in the fifth when they loaded the bases against George Kirby on two walks and a hit batsman. Steven Kwan sent a fly ball to Arozarena in shallow left field and for some reason Rhys Hoskins tried to score from third. Arozarena’s throw to the plate beat Hoskins by plenty to complete the inning-ending double play.
“I just misheard Ruggie (third base coach Rouglas Odor),” said Hoskins. “That’s all I got for you. I should know that’s not our best opportunity, especially with Chase and Jose (Ramirez) coming up.
“I wish I didn’t, but I just misheard him. It stinks. I took the wind out of our sails tonight.”
Williams allowed three runs on two hits. He struck out seven to go along with his six walks. He threw 89 pitches, 49 (55%) for strikes.
“I was being way too fast with my upper body and torso when I hit the ground with my front foot,” said Williams. “That caused me over rotation. Then I tried to overcorrect it.
“I’ve got to work on that.”
Manager Stephen Vogt said Williams’ stuff was good, but added, “The walks were the issue tonight. His stuff was pretty good. They didn’t hit him. But we gave up three runs on walks tonight and that was the story of the game.”
Colin Holderman, in his Cleveland debut, started the sixth and ran into the same problem that hurt Williams. He walked Arozarena to start the inning and surrendered a two-run homer to Raley for a 5-1 lead. For Raley, who played his college baseball at Lake Erie College in Painesville, it was his second homer in as many games against Cleveland.
Kirby (1-0, 1.50) came into the game with an 0-1 record and a 5.11 ERA in five starts against the Guardians. He was a different pitcher on Friday.
The 6-foot-4 right-hander allowed one run on two hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked two. Besides DeLauter’s homer and the bases-loaded situation in the fifth, Kirby was dominant.
Peyton Pallette, Cleveland’s Rule 5 right-hander, made his big-league debut in the seventh. He retired the Mariners in order, striking out Brandon Donovan and Cal Raleigh, while retiring Julio Rodriguez on a foul pop to first.
Pallette came back out for the eighth and retired the Mariners in order again.
“God is good. God is good,” said Pallette when asked how it felt to take the mound in the seventh. “It’s been a long time coming. There have been a lot of ups and downs.”
The Guardians out-hit the Mariners, 4-3. The difference being that two of Seattle’s hits cleared the fence to account for all five of their runs.
Kwan had two of the Guardians’ four hits.
Next
LHP Joey Cantillo (5-3, 3.21) vs. RHP Bryan Woo (15-7, 2.94) Saturday at 9:45 p.m. ET. Guardians.TV and WTAM/1100 will carry the game. Pitchers’ records are from last year.
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