Ben’s Morning Sports Page

Mariners get thumped in D.C.; rubber match arrives fast

Seattle’s Saturday turned on one bad first inning and one loud Washington answer. The Mariners clawed back from a 3–0 hole in the fifth, tying the game on Colt Emerson’s two-run homer, but the Nationals immediately punched back and pulled away for an 8–3 win at Nationals Park.

Luis Castillo’s line was stranger than the score: 5⅔ innings, seven hits, five runs, but only two earned, with four strikeouts. Seattle’s defense committed three errors, and Washington kept applying pressure with traffic, steals, and contact.

The turning point was the bottom of the fifth. Emerson’s homer had just reset the game; then Luis García Jr. answered with a two-run shot to right-center, restoring Washington’s lead and flipping the afternoon back toward the Nationals for good.

Seattle gets an immediate chance to clean it up today at 10:35 a.m. PT, with Emerson Hancock listed against Miles Mikolas in the series finale.

MLB Gameday / box score

Macdonald’s minicamp notes: new offense, health watch, foundation building

No game, but the Seahawks’ official site’s latest minicamp coverage remains the useful read: Mike Macdonald discussed the “kinda” new offense, injury updates, and what Seattle is trying to establish before the summer break.

Injury/roster note: No new official roster move was verified this morning. The safest takeaway is that Seattle is in evaluation mode, with minicamp notes more meaningful than transaction churn.

What to watch next: camp battles and any official injury clarifications as the team moves from minicamp into training-camp ramp-up.

Seahawks.com minicamp Day 2 takeaways · Day 1 takeaways

Emerson goes deep, but Seattle’s messy day becomes an 8–3 loss

The Mariners lost 8–3 to Washington on Saturday. Mitch Garver had two hits and an RBI, Cole Young went 2-for-5, and Colt Emerson supplied the big swing with a two-run homer in the fifth.

Standouts: Emerson: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI. Garver: 2-for-4, RBI. Castillo: 5⅔ IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 4 K. Washington’s CJ Abrams went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs.

Implication: No need to overcook one June loss, but the three-error afternoon is the kind of game that matters in the margins of a playoff race. Today is a quick test of whether Seattle can flush it.

What to watch next: Emerson Hancock vs. Miles Mikolas today at Nationals Park.

Box score · ESPN video highlights · Today’s Gameday

Quiet official day; recruiting radar stays warm

No Oregon football game and no major official update surfaced this morning. The current useful anchors are Oregon’s official 2026 schedule page and the ongoing recruiting tracker coverage around the Ducks’ 2026 class.

Big Ten / playoff lens: Nothing changed on-field, but June recruiting momentum is the raw material for future Big Ten depth. For Oregon, the next meaningful news is more likely to be a commitment, official-visit follow-up, or summer roster note than a practice report.

What to watch next: recruiting commitments and official schedule/TV updates from GoDucks or the Big Ten.

GoDucks 2026 schedule · Ducks Wire recruiting tracker · On3 Oregon recruiting news