Josh Naylor breaks out of season-long slump with 2 homers as Mariners sweep Astros

SEATTLE (AP) — Josh Naylor was adamant he didn’t like it, but the results said otherwise.

Naylor was talking about incorporating a bigger leg kick to help with his timing. The Mariners first baseman made the adjustment for the first time Monday, and he hit his first two homers of the season in a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros that gave Seattle a rare four-game sweep of its division rival.

“I just decided I was going to try a little leg kick today because, why not?” Naylor said. “What’s the worst that can happen, I go 0 for 4 again? I’ve done that already, been there, done that type of thing.”

Naylor isn’t sure if he'll stick with the new move or go back to his usual setup and swing. But the latter wasn't working to start the year. The eight-year veteran entered the game hitting .102 with two RBIs.

Luck wasn’t on Naylor’s side, either.

According to Baseball Savant, Naylor’s hard-hit rate of 35.4% exceeded that of teammate Cal Raleigh — who hit 60 homers last season — as well as seven other Mariners.

“He found a lot of barrels,” manager Dan Wilson said. “He found a lot of hard-hit balls. He knew that it was coming. And, tonight, I thought the second homer was really crushed, in particular.”

Naylors's second homer was a 433-foot, two-run shot to center field. Naylor flipped his bat, then knocked it further into the air with his right hand to celebrate the longest home run of the season by a Seattle player.

Acquired last July in a trade with Arizona, Naylor batted .299 with nine homers, 33 RBIs and 19 stolen bases in 54 games for Seattle. He signed a $92.5 million, five-year contract in November.

Naylor said he felt supported by Mariners fans even while he struggled.

“I think maybe a few days ago, I hit a line drive and I got out and I was 0 for 3 so far on the day, and I heard some fan — I try to block out a lot of things said — but I heard some fan (say), ‘Keep your head up, you’re good, you’re the best,’” Naylor said. “And I appreciated that. I’m not the best right now, but I do appreciate that.”

Even with Naylor scuffling through the first three games, Seattle completed just the second four-game sweep of division rival Houston in franchise history. The first was from Aug. 9-12, 2018.

With the Mariners heading to San Diego for a three-game series, Naylor has to decide what to do about that leg kick.

“Maybe I stick with it, maybe I try to go back to my regular swing, but who knows,” Naylor said. “I think that’s a part of this long season. This game we play is the hardest game in the world, in my opinion. Really tough on your mind. So, I think trying to do things to minimize thinking too much, I guess, that helps you in the long run.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

Seattle Mariners' Josh Naylor watches his two-run home run with Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz during the third inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 13, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Josh Naylor jogs the bases after hitting his second home run of the game, a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Monday, April 13, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Josh Naylor laughs in the dugout during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Monday, April 13, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

NEW YORK (AP) — Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has apologized for “harmful” social media posts she made as a teenager, responding publicly after a conservative news outlet combed through her online profiles and resurfaced material, including a post in which she used an anti-gay slur.

In an interview with the arts website Hyperallergic, Duwaji, an illustrator, said she felt “a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others," adding “being 15 doesn't excuse it."

"I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry," she said in the interview, published Wednesday, in response to a question about adjusting to life as a public figure.

Duwaji did not specify which comments she was referring to, nor did she address other, more recent social media activity regarding Israel that has attracted heavy scrutiny as Mamdani tries to ease concerns among some in the city's Jewish community over his own criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Last month, The Washington Free Beacon reported on years of Duwaji’s online activity across a handful of social media platforms, finding she had shared posts praising female Palestinian militants who participated in plane hijackings and bombings in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 2015, she shared a post in which someone else wrote that Tel Aviv was occupying Palestinian land and “shouldn’t exist.”

Duwaji also once used a racial slur for Black people while affectionately addressing a friend and used an abbreviated slur for gay people in 2013.

The mayor has previously said his wife is a “private person” who does not hold a formal position in City Hall. Asked Thursday about which specific posts his wife regretted, Mamdani demurred.

“She shared some of her reflections in this interview. I won’t add much to them, what I will say, however, is that she is someone of incredible integrity,” Mamdani told reporters.

He added that questions about Duwaji's social media activity were “part and parcel” of his own choice to run for mayor, “a decision that has ramifications for those that I love.”

Separately, Duwaji has also come under criticism for liking an Instagram post that appeared to cheer Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 surprise attack on Israel. The Free Beacon has also reported that Duwaji provided an illustration for an essay by an author who described the Oct. 7 attack as “spectacular" and had called Jewish Israelis “rootless soulless ghouls.”

Mamdani has previously said his wife had been commissioned to illustrate an excerpt of a book by a third party, and said she had never engaged or met with the author, and that Duwaji had not seen the author's previous comments. He called the author's rhetoric “patently unacceptable” and “reprehensible.”

AP writer Jake Offenhartz contributed

FILE - Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, right, and his wife, Rama Duwaji, react to supporters during an election night watch party, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)