Mariners’ Josh Naylor breaks out of cold spell with 2 HRs

With two big swings, Josh Naylor broke out of his season-opening cold spell in a major way.

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Naylor homered in each of his first two at-bats on Monday afternoon, connecting for a three-run blast in the first inning and a two-run shot in the third to give the Seattle Mariners a 5-0 lead as they take aim at a four-game sweep of the American League West rival Houston Astros.

Prior to Monday, Naylor was batting just .102 with no extra-base hits through his first 15 games. Some of that was bad luck, as evidenced by his .222 expected batting average, according to Baseball Savant.

This time, Naylor left nothing to chance.

In the first inning, Naylor turned on a middle-middle 0-1 fastball from Astros right-hander Mike Burrows and lined it over the right-center-field fence at T-Mobile Park. And in the third, Naylor jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Burrows and launched it over the center-field wall for a 433-foot blast that registered a 111.5 mph exit velocity.

The ultimate hype man 🔊

Julio Rodríguez’s reaction to both of Josh Naylor’s homers were perfect https://t.co/e9HIUdHwHd pic.twitter.com/z0oZsAFVtI

— MLB (@MLB) April 13, 2026

It was Naylor’s sixth career multi-homer game and his first with the Mariners.

After arriving in a trade-deadline deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks last summer, Naylor slashed .299/.341/.490 with nine homers and 10 doubles in 54 games with Seattle. Along the way, the lefty-hitting first baseman became a fan favorite in the Emerald City while serving as a key catalyst to the Mariners’ deepest postseason run in franchise history.

Shortly after the season ended, the M’s re-signed Naylor on a five-year, $92 million deal.

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