Emerson

Hancock

Hancock struck out three, issued two walks and hit one batter. A third-inning sacrifice fly from Pete Alonso was the lone blemish through five frames. It wasn’t a dominant performance, but it was good enough to pick up a win and lower his ERA to a sparkling 2.74 mark through 75 2/3 innings. The 27-year-old has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 12 of his 13 starts this season. He’ll close out a two-start week with a road tilt against the Nationals on Sunday.

Hancock never pitched with a man on base; he gave up two solo homers and retired the other 18 batters he faced. Hancock allowed only one homer in five starts last month before Jared Young and Marcus Semien got to him tonight. He left down 2-1 but avoided taking the loss after the Mariners tied things up in the seventh. Hancock has four wins and eight quality starts in 12 tries. He’ll face the Tigers on Sunday.

Hancock dominated the A’s in Sacramento, giving up just one hit and two walks over six shutout frames. He tossed 56 of 87 pitches for strikes and collected three strikeouts while generating six groundouts. The 25-year-old right-hander is in the midst of a breakout campaign, posting a 2.78 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and a 63/15 K/BB ratio across 64 2/3 innings. Hancock will look to keep it going against the Mets in Seattle on Monday.

Hancock surrendered five hits, including RBI singles to Andrew Benintendi and Munetaka Murakami, over five solid frames. He finished with four strikeouts and also issued three walks. The 26-year-old breakout sensation has completed five frames in each of his 10 starts, while allowing three runs or fewer nine times during that span. He’ll try to keep the momentum going when he faces the Athletics in hitter-friendly West Sacramento on Tuesday.

Hancock gave up 11 hard-hit balls, but the Padres managed only four singles and a double against him. It was a performance worthy of a win, but since the Mariners failed to score in the 2-0 loss, Hancock dropped to 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA. He’ll make his next start Wednesday at home against the White Sox.

Presumably, that would begin on May 19. It wouldn’t be surprising it if also ends on May 19. The Mariners don’t want to disrespect Castillo, but the 33-year-old only held it together last year because of his home ballpark and that still hasn’t been enough this season with his career-worst 19 percent strikeout rate and 33 percent groundball rate. He has a 6.29 ERA through seven starts. At least this arrangement is good for Emerson Hancock, who no longer has to worry about his spot. Miller still figures to be quite useful in the long run.

The Mariners are playing 14 games in 14 days, so one time through with a six-man rotation shouldn’t hurt. After that, they’ll probably need to demote Luis Castillo or Emerson Hancock, with Castillo-to-the-bullpen seeming like the obvious move at this point. Miller has been showing the best velocity of his career in his return from an oblique injury. There’s no guarantee he’ll be effective right away against the Astros next week, but he should offer mixed-league value over the rest of the season.

The White Sox were all over Hancock in this one. Munetaka Murakami greeted him with a loud home run in the first inning and then after being spotted a 5-1 lead, Hancock gave it right back in a four-run third. Most of that damage came from a Colson Montgomery three-run double on a first-pitch fastball that was right down the middle. That fastball was hit hard overall despite being one of the key contributors to Hancock’s breakout so far this season. It was impressive to see him settle down enough to get through six frames despite those struggles and he’ll have a chance to get back on track against the Astros in Houston next time out.

Just a bit of a step forward for Hancock. His previous career high for strikeouts was nine, and he’d never topped seven prior to this season. He didn’t overwhelm with his 31 percent CSW tonight, but the Royals couldn’t string hits together while combining for eight total bases in seven innings. Hancock’s 2.59 ERA is going to force the Mariners to make a tough decision when Bryce Miller is activated. It seems clear now that Hancock would be the better choice than Luis Castillo for the fifth spot in their rotation. Hancock is slated to face the White Sox next.

The only runs Hancock allowed were on solo homers by Ryan Church in the sixth and JJ Wetherholt in the third. There was a good amount of hard contact against the right-hander, but he was able to limit the damage and kept Seattle in the game. Hancock now has a 2.86 ERA on the season, and he just may be earning a permanent spot in the Seattle rotation with how well he’s pitched. He’ll face the Royals on Saturday.