Logan Gilbert no longer piggybacking vs. Guards

Hancock came into this one needing a good start with 11 runs allowed over his last two appearances. He delivered with a solid day on the mound, holding the Guardians to one run into the sixth inning. He scattered five hits and three walks while collecting six strikeouts. The 27-year-old right-hander will look to keep it going when he takes a 3.47 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and an 87/22 K/BB ratio across 90 2/3 innings into a start against the Blue Jays in Seattle next Sunday.

Gilbert gave up seven hits, walked none and struck out seven. He fell to 6-5 with the loss. Gilbert was victimized by the Guardians in a three-run third inning. The 29-year-old right-hander allowed a base hit to four of the first five hitters in the inning. Cleveland would tack on another run in the fifth inning against Gilbert and that was enough to give the Guardians the win. His ERA is 3.42. Gilbert is lined up to face the Blue Jays at home next weekend.

It wasn’t a particularly easy effort tonight, as Kirby allowed eight hits. Still, they accounted for only 10 total bases between them, and Kirby was good about spreading them around. He was 0-5 with a 6.27 ERA in his previous six starts, though the two before this one, both against Baltimore, were already improvements. He’s 6-7 with a 3.94 ERA overall. With the Mariners planning to throw both Logan Gilbert and Emerson Hancock on Saturday, Kirby should start against Sunday against the Guardians.

Gilbert has been outstanding as of late, while Hancock has scuffled over his past two outings. The Mariners will be rotating hurlers in their piggyback situation rather than going to a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future, and it’s less than ideal from a fantasy perspective.

Gilbert posted 18 whiffs on the day, which was more than any other starting pitcher on Sunday. He struck out eight and walked two while throwing 70 percent of his pitches for strikes. He had good command of everything but the slider today, and the slider was still able to post a solid 13 percent swinging strike rate. The curve and splitter missed plenty of bats in limited usage, and his four-seam fastball was up over one mph, averaging 96.8 mph. He’ll look to keep it going against the Guardians next week.

Hancock had a 2.70 ERA in his seven home starts this season before his latest mediocre effort tonight. He allowed a season high six runs to the Nationals last Sunday, and the five runs he gave up tonight are two more than he’d allowed in any of his previous starts in Seattle. He might be on his way to being droppable in mixed leagues, but he does have a relatively generous assignment next week in Cleveland against the José Ramírez-less Guardians.

That’s the same line he had in losing to the Orioles in Baltimore last week. It makes four times this season that Kirby has turned in a quality start and lost anyway. That’s the most quality-start losses in MLB, and Dustin May and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the only other pitchers with three such games. Kirby will face the Pirates in Pittsburgh next time out.

Gilbert surrendered a run on two hits in the first inning. He then settled in nicely, dominating over six more shutout frames while collecting a season-high ten strikeouts on an impressive 19 whiffs. The 29-year-old right-hander will take a 3.43 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and a 92/20 K/BB ratio across 86 2/3 innings into a start against the Red Sox in Seattle on Sunday.

There’s a lot to unpack here. According to Mariners general manager Justin Hollander, it was a unanimous decision by all six starters — Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo — to move to a schedule where each pitcher will rotate through and have piggyback days. Ironically, the arrangement will begin with Castillo piggybacking out of the bullpen with Miller during Friday’s series opener against the Red Sox. The decision will have a significant fantasy impact simply by reducing the overall volume for each starter over the next few weeks. The unorthodox arrangement feels like a temporary stopgap solution until the arrival of top prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan later this summer ultimately forces Seattle to move on from at least one of their veteran arms.

Hancock struck out two and didn’t walk anyone, increasing his ERA to 3.28. He gave up a solo homer to James Wood in the first and later unraveled, allowing five earned in the fourth. The right-hander has been fantastic in 2026, but he was due for some regression. That it came against the highest-scoring offense in MLB isn’t a surprise. Hancock has allowed more than three earned runs in a start just twice this year, including Sunday, a season-high in runs allowed. Seattle continues to have some of the best starting pitching depth in the majors, and Hancock will look to bounce back at home against the Red Sox next time out.