Mariners finally playing up to lofty expectations with a six-game winning streak

SEATTLE (AP) — When Bryce Miller was relegated to watching Seattle Mariners games on television from the team’s spring training complex as he rehabbed a left oblique injury, the right-hander was left with frustrating viewing.

The Mariners spent most of April and May mired in mediocrity, twice falling five games below .500 less than a year removed from being eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

Seattle’s top talent entered the 2026 season hungry for the first World Series appearance in franchise history. But, simply qualifying for the postseason when the Mariners owned a 10-15 record in late April seemed unlikely.

“The first however many games, (we) never really played to our potential, I don’t think,” Miller said. “We knew even the games that we won, either we wouldn’t pitch that well, or we wouldn’t hit that well.”

After their sixth straight win, a 3-2 walk-off victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, it has become clear the Mariners are finding their groove. Over their longest win streak of the season, Seattle has yielded just 12 runs, only allowing more than two in a game once in a 7-6 win on Friday night.

Simultaneously, the Mariners – who had the third-most home runs as a team last season (238) — are leaning more into their power stroke despite the continued absence of last year’s AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh, who is still sidelined with a right oblique strain. All-Star utilityman Brendan Donovan has been out, too, since May 15 with a left groin muscle strain.

The Mariners finished the month of May with 42 home runs, tied with the Chicago White Sox for the most in the major leagues. Center fielder Julio Rodríguez, notorious for his slow starts, chipped in 10 of those on his own.

“I just really feel like things now are trending (up) for us,” Rodríguez said. “The hits are falling. The guys who can hit home runs are hitting the home runs. And, I feel like everything’s coming together now.”

As is often the case with the more successful teams in franchise history, though, Seattle has been buoyed by its rotation, one which currently features six starters. Manager Dan Wilson has elected to use six starting pitchers rather than a traditional five-man rotation because no individual has pitched his way out of a role, and has instead “piggybacked” veteran right-hander Luis Castillo in relief of Miller.

Castillo, currently the highest paid player on the Mariners’ roster, has accepted the assignment. He considers himself proud to be part of a rotation that has the seventh-lowest ERA (3.72) in the majors.

“I know that any one of us, if we’re all needed (in) the bullpen,” Castillo said, with team interpreter Freddy Llanos translating, “I think we’re all willing to do it.”

From Miller’s vantage point, it was inevitable the Mariners – who following their latest win have a 31-29 record and own a 2 1/2-game lead in the AL West – would eventually hit their stride. As deep in the season as July 27, Seattle was 56-50 before it fired on all cylinders to finish the year, going 36-20 en route to clinching a division crown.

Unlike much of the first two months, when consistency was hard to come by for the Mariners, Wilson has seen oodles of it from Seattle over the last week. Whether that sample proves to be an aberration or an indication that more winning baseball looms near remains to be seen.

But, Wilson and company have been pleased with Seattle’s all-around play of late nonetheless — a sentiment rarely shared by Mariners fans much of the spring.

“Swinging the bat really well, and what we’ve seen on the mound has been so consistent,” Wilson said. “You do both of those things and you play good defense, good things happen consistently. And, I think we feel like we’re in a much better spot that way.”

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Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Luis Castillo pumps his fist while walking off the field during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Seattle Mariners starter Bryce Miller delivers during the third inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

From left to right, Seattle Mariners' Jhonny Pereda, Colt Emerson, Victor Robles and Julio Rodriguez celebrate after a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez celebrates after a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

LONDON (AP) — The estranged husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon created fake invoices and falsified accounting records as he embezzled more than 400,000 pounds ($540,000) from the Scottish National Party to buy hundreds of items from a luxury motorhome to Nintendo games, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, 61, rode in a prison van Tuesday to the High Court in Edinburgh, where prosecutor Alan Cameron detailed how Murrell stole cash from the party's main bank account to go on a personal spending spree.

Court papers revealed a long list of things he bought over more than a decade with the stolen funds, including two cars, a motorhome and luxury items like watches and crystal drinking glasses. But there was also a wide range of humdrum household items like gardening tools, electric toothbrushes, a bottle of super glue and shower squeegees.

Cameron said Murrell sought to dodge suspicion by giving his purchases misleading descriptions in the party finance system — for example, by recording a robotic lawnmower costing 3,070 pounds ($4,136) as spending on “legal fees.”

A look at some of the items Murrell bought with party funds according to prosecutors, by the numbers:

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Amount Murrell spent on a motorhome, which was described as a “van” in an invoice, and was never used by another party member. Police said it was only driven for four miles before it was seized.

Total spent on buying luxury leather goods and stationery from London retailer Smythson.

Amount spent on an ornate silver wine coaster, falsely described as spending on “leadership expenses.”

Amount spent on two luxury Bremont watches, recorded on accounting software as “event merchandise.”

Amount spent on two salt and pepper grinders from Lalique.

Number of purchases from Amazon that Murrell made using SNP “charge cards" at a total cost of $57,474 over 12 years, including PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, a Super Mario video game, knife sets, kitchenware and luxury Montblanc fountain pens.

Number of cars Murrell bought with party funds. He first bought a Volkswagen Golf in 2016 using $22,220 of SNP money, and later traded that car in to buy a Jaguar, claiming the expense was for staging party events. In 2021, he sold the vehicle and personally pocketed about $63,844.

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Prosecutors said Murrell was able to siphon the money because he had control over the party’s account, which held money from membership fees and donations by party members.

Murrell pleaded guilty last week to embezzlement from 2010 to 2022. Sturgeon, who led the SNP for a decade, has strenuously rejected any blame for Murrell’s crimes, and said that she was “deceived, misled and betrayed.” The pair announced last year that they were divorcing.

Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023 over the party finances investigation, and was later cleared by police.

Murrell is set to be sentenced later this month.

The SNP has led Scotland’s semiautonomous government for almost two decades while campaigning for Scotland to break away from the United Kingdom.

Jack McConnell, a former Scottish leader, said the scandal has damaged trust in politics and is an embarrassment.

McConnell, who was defeated by the SNP at an election in 2007, said the matter wasn't "just hilarious tittle-tattle here in Scotland.”

“This is embarrassing internationally for us now and we need to take it seriously," he said.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, center arrives at Edinburgh High Court, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Monday May 25, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

FILE - Scotland's First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is interviewed in Washington, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell arrives in a prison van at the High Court in Edinburgh for a further hearing, following his admission that he embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA /PA via AP)