ST. LOUIS — Josh Naylor got to trot a lot Friday night, and that was very good news for the Seattle Mariners in their 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before 31,304 at Busch Stadium. Furthering distancing himself from the worst slump of his career to begin a season, Naylor belted the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning off St. Louis starter Andre Pallante, a no-doubt line-drive blast ...

Louis Cardinals in the sixth inning at Busch Stadium on Friday, April 24, 2026, in St. Louis.

Joe Puetz/Getty Images North America/TNS

ST. LOUIS — Josh Naylor got to trot a lot Friday night, and that was very good news for the Seattle Mariners in their 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before 31,304 at Busch Stadium.

Furthering distancing himself from the worst slump of his career to begin a season, Naylor belted the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning off St. Louis starter Andre Pallante, a no-doubt line-drive blast out to right field.

It was his third homer of the season, measured at 107.3 mph off the bat and 418 feet in projected distance, and it gave the Mariners a much-needed jolt to begin a six-game Midwest road trip.

The Mariners had lost eight of their first nine road games to begin the season.

George Kirby continued his strong start to the season with six sharp innings, allowing two runs on five hits.

Andrés Muñoz, after a shaky start to the season, allowed a 111.9-mph blast off the bat of the Cardinals’ Nolan Gorman to begin the bottom of the ninth, but the line drive was hit directly at M’s right fielder Rob Refsnyder for the first out.

After a strikeout and a groundout, Muñoz worked around Nathan Church’s two-out single to strike out Ramon Urías to end it.

Naylor, the lumbering first baseman, had set up the Mariners’ second run in the fourth inning in most entertaining fashion after he drew a six-pitch walk off Pallante.

Before the very next pitch — before Pallante even began his windup — Naylor had taken off from first base on a stolen-base attempt. He got such a big jump that he was practically able to walk the last 15 feet to second base, reaching without a throw from catcher Iván Herrera.

Get this: In 91 games with the Mariners (including playoffs), Naylor is now a perfect 23 for 23 in stolen-base attempts.

All things considered, it has to be one of the most unbelievable (like, literally) stats in MLB today. Out of 352 players measured this season, Naylor ranks 351st in sprint speed, at 23.9 feet per second, according to MLB’s advanced metrics.

Naylor came around to score from second base when Dominic Canzone sent an 0-2 sinker from Pallante the other way to left field. Naylor, in the one instance all night when he needed his, um, wheels, sprinted around third and score with a slide to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Masyn Winn’s soft single to right field off Kirby — a 70.7-mph hit off the bat to drive in runners from second and third and make it a 2-2 game.

The Mariners retook the lead when Naylor, leading off the sixth inning, turned on a 94.4-mph fastball from Pallante, low and in, and sent it out to right. Naylor took his time rounding the bases.

Cole Young’s two-out single drove in Randy Arozarena to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Arozarena led off the inning with a double into the right-center gap and advanced to third on Luke Raley’s deep fly out.

The Mariners bullpen took care of the rest.

After playing 13 games in 13 days — during which they went 7-6 — the Mariners had an off-day in St. Louis on Thursday, a much-needed chance to rest for the beleaguered relievers, in particular.

Given that, M’s manager Dan Wilson was aggressive with his use of his high-leverage arms Friday, turning immediately to Matt Brash in the seventh inning after Kirby allowed a leadoff single to Winn.

Brash retired the next three batters to continue his stellar start to the season.

Lefty Gabe Speier allowed back-to-back singles to open the eighth inning before striking out Alec Burleson, a left-handed slugger, swinging through an elevated fastball.

Wilson quickly called on right-hander Eduard Bazardo to face Jordan Walker, the Cardinals’ right-handed slugger whose eight homers put him among MLB’s leaders in the early going.

Bazardo got ahead 0-2 in the count and then threw a sweeper to induce a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

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