Colt Emerson homers for 1st career hit as Mariners beat White Sox 6-1 behind Woo

SEATTLE (AP) — Touted prospect Colt Emerson launched a three-run homer for his first major league hit, and the Seattle Mariners stopped a three-game slide Monday night with a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Bryan Woo (4-2) pitched six shutout innings for the Mariners, allowing three hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out eight and retired his final 11 batters. He threw 60 of his 90 pitches for strikes.

Julio Rodríguez hit his eighth homer — a solo shot off Noah Schultz (2-3) in the first to put Seattle ahead for good.

Emerson, the team's top pick in the 2023 amateur draft, connected on a 2-2 pitch from Trevor Richards with two outs in the eighth to extend the lead to 6-1.

The 20-year-old third baseman was selected 22nd overall and recently signed a $95 million, eight-year contract — the largest for a minor league player with no big league experience. He was called up over the weekend and had family in the stands Monday for his second game after they were unable to attend his debut Sunday.

Jhonny Pereda was hit by a pitch before scoring on a two-out double by Randy Arozarena to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the third.

Pereda was thrown out at home but it was ruled shortstop Colson Montgomery impeded his progress rounding second and the run was awarded. White Sox manager Wil Venable was ejected for arguing the call.

Arozarena doubled again leading off the sixth, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Josh Naylor to make it 3-0. Naylor finished 3 for 4 and stole two bases.

Sam Antonacci singled off Woo to begin the game and Munetaka Murakami followed with a walk, but Antonacci was thrown out at third by Woo when he tried to take an extra base on the free pass.

Antonacci and Murakami had one-out singles to put runners at the corners in the third, but Woo struck out Miguel Vargas and Montgomery to keep it 1-0.

Eduard Bazardo gave up a leadoff homer to Tristan Peters in the seventh for Chicago's lone run. José A. Ferrer got the final out in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth before Andrés Muñoz worked a perfect ninth.

White Sox LHP Anthony Kay (3-1, 4.61 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (0-0, 3.38).

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Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo throws against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Chicago White Sox catcher Drew Romo tags out Seattle Mariners' Jhonny Pereda at home on a double from Randy Arozarena, but is counted as a run scored after a review determined second baseman Sam Antonacci committed interference on the base path during the third inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Randy Arozarena reacts after hitting a double against the Chicago White Sox during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' J.P. Crawford, right, hands the trident to Colt Emerson (4) after Emerson hit a three-run home run against the Chicago White Sox, his first major league hit, during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Colt Emerson, right, is doused by teammate J.P. Crawford, left, to celebrate a win over the Chicago White Sox in a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who was convicted of lying during testimony at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died. He was 74.

Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. He reported finding a bloody glove at Simpson’s home but his credibility came under attack during the trial as the defense raised the prospect of racial bias.

Under cross-examination, Fuhrman testified that he had never made anti-Black racial slurs in the past decade, but a recording showed he had done so repeatedly.

Lynn Acebedo, the chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County, Idaho, said that Fuhrman died May 12. The county does not release the cause of death as a rule.

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent lawyer and law professor who was a legal strategist on Simpson’s defense “Dream Team,” said Fuhrman was a “much better detective than he was a witness.”

“He’s very smart, and you know, a very, very aggressive detective. Ultimately his actions helped us win the O.J. case because of his use of the ‘n’ word,” Dershowitz said Monday evening. “I got to know him later, after it was all over, and we had a cordial relationship.”

Fuhrman retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after Simpson’s 1995 acquittal. He subsequently moved to Idaho with his family and set up a 20-acre (eight-hectare) farm, raising chickens, goats, sheep and llamas.

In 1996, Fuhrman was charged with perjury and pleaded no contest. He later became a TV and radio commentator and wrote the book “Murder in Brentwood” about the killings.

A criminal-court jury found Simpson, a former star NFL running back and actor, not guilty of murder in 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to relatives of Brown and Goldman. He served nine years in prison on unrelated charges and died in Las Vegas of prostate cancer in 2024 at the age of 76.

Kato Kaelin, a friend of Brown who also testified in the murder trial, wrote in a post on X that he wanted to respectfully acknowledge Fuhrman's death and that he hopes Fuhrman's loved ones can find peace.

“While we were never close personally, our lives were indelibly linked through our roles in the O.J. Simpson trial over thirty years ago. It was a deeply complex and painful chapter for everyone involved, but any loss of life is a time for reflection and solemnity,” Kaelin wrote.

Fuhrman’s father left when he was 7 years old, and Fuhrman often cared for his younger brother while his mother worked. As an adult, he joined the Marines and then the Los Angeles Police Department.

This story has been updated to correct the last name of Brown's friend who testified in the murder trial. He is Kato Kaelin, not Kaitlin.

Golden reported from Seattle.

FILE - In this June 15, 1995 file photo, O.J. Simpson, left, grimaces as he tries on one of the leather gloves prosecutors say he wore the night his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered in a Los Angeles courtroom. (AP Photo/Sam Mircovich, Pool, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Police Department Det. Mark Fuhrman, foreground, and Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, rear, crane their heads to look at an overhead monitor during the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial, Friday, March 10, 1995, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman shows the jury in the O.J. Simpson double murder trial evidence during testimony Friday, March 10, 1995, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, Pool, File)