Mariners’ Colt Emerson makes 1st first career start at shortstop as J.P. Crawford gets day off

SEATTLE (AP) — Colt Emerson will make his first MLB start at shortstop for the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night against the White Sox, less than 24 hours after hitting a three-run homer for his first big league hit.

Emerson will be playing in his third MLB game. He was the team's top pick in the 2023 amateur draft and started the first two games of his big league career at third base while J.P. Crawford played his usual position of shortstop.

Crawford, the longest-tenured member of the Mariners, was given the day off Tuesday. That move gave Emerson, who recently signed a $95 million, eight-year contract — the largest for a minor league player with no big league experience — his first chance to play at his natural position in the majors.

Manager Dan Wilson has been impressed by the 20-year-old Emerson in the early stages of his career.

“He’s come up here and been very mature, and his approach has been outstanding,” Wilson said. “That’s the guy, the player that we thought he was.”

Emerson was called up from Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday because All-Star utilityman Brendan Donovan was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left groin muscle strain. General manager Justin Hollander estimated that Donovan will be sidelined for two to three weeks, which means Emerson will have plenty of other chances to start at third base.

With left-hander Anthony Kay (3-1, 4.61 ERA) starting for Chicago, Wilson chose a more right-handed heavy hitting lineup, giving Crawford a day off. Patrick Wisdom, who was reinstated from the injured list on Monday following a left oblique strain, will start at third base for Seattle.

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

Seattle Mariners' Colt Emerson, right, is doused by teammate J.P. Crawford, left, as they celebrate a win over the Chicago White Sox after 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 hits a three-run home run, the first major league hit of his career, against the Chicago White Sox during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Colt Emerson follows through on a three-run home run against the Chicago White Sox during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is drifting Thursday following a rebound for oil prices and mixed reports on the U.S. economy.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% and is on track for a fourth drop in five days after setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 37 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.

A halt in the torrid run for stocks benefiting from the artificial-intelligence boom has slowed the U.S. market recently. Not even another better-than-expected profit report from Nvidia was enough to kick it back into gear.

The chip company reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, while also forecasting revenue for the current quarter that cleared analysts’ estimates. “The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” CEO Jensen Huang said.

Such performances and such talk have become routine, though, and Nvidia's stock swiveled between losses and gains before slipping 1.9%.

Some analysts said the muted reaction may have simply been because investors were locking in profits after Nvidia’s stock had soared nearly 70% over the prior year, more than double the S&P 500’s 27% jump. The broad AI industry is also getting criticism for becoming too expensive, as well as too circular as Nvidia has bought ownership stakes in companies that use its own chips that drive Nvidia’s revenue.

Pressure built on Wall Street, meanwhile, as the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 2.1% to $107.26 and trimmed its loss for the week. Oil prices have been swinging up and down with uncertainty about how long the war with Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz shut, which is preventing oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf to deliver crude.

That helped push Treasury yields upward in the bond market, resuming their rises following a slowdown the day before.

Climbing yields have cranked up the pressure on financial markets worldwide. They're slowing economies and weighing on prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. Besides driving up rates for mortgages, high yields could also curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have been supporting the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.60% from 4.57% late Wednesday.

It had gotten near 4.63% earlier in the morning, after a report gave the latest signal that the U.S. job market remains in better shape than economists expected. The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits last week unexpectedly declined in an indication of fewer layoffs.

But yields then eased a bit following a preliminary report showing weaker-than-expected growth for business activity among U.S. services businesses, but improved growth for U.S. manufacturers. Companies are feeling the effects of accelerating inflation and are seeing subdued growth in their order books, preliminary data from the S&P Global survey said.

“The damaging economic impact from the war in the Middle East is becoming increasingly evident in the business surveys,” according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Inflation is worsening even beyond the high oil prices caused by the Iran war, while U.S. households are showing widespread discouragement about the economy.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Walmart fell 6.8% following its profit report. The retailer delivered another quarter of impressive revenue but offered up weaker forecasts for upcoming profit than analysts expected.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Ralph Lauren, which jumped 10.5% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following bigger moves in Asian markets.

South Korea’s Kospi Kospi soared 8.4% thanks to strength for technology stocks. Samsung Electronics jumped 8.5% after its labor union and management reached an agreement late Wednesday that averted a potentially costly strike. SK Hynix, a chip company partnering with Nvidia, surged 11.2%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1%, while indexes fell 1% in Hong Kong and 2% in Shanghai.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Trader Aaron Ford works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Edward McCarthy works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A Global Medical Response helicopter sits in front of the New York Stock Exchange before the planned IPO of GMR Solutions, Inc., Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 18, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)