SEATTLE (AP) — Robert Hassell III had three hits and two RBIs, including his first major league home run, and James Wood also went deep as the Washington Nationals routed the Seattle Mariners 9-0 on Wednesday night.

Washington Nationals 9, Seattle Mariners 0: Box Score

Luis García Jr. and Josh Bell launched consecutive homers to help back Trevor Williams (3-5), who tossed six splendid innings. Bell finished with three hits and Wood drove in three runs.

Playing his sixth major league game, Hassell hit a solo homer in the eighth to make it 7-0. The touted rookie began the night batting .118 (2 for 17) with one RBI since making his debut last Thursday.

The 23-year-old Hassell was drafted eighth overall by San Diego in 2020 and traded to Washington — along with Wood, CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore — for Juan Soto and Bell in a blockbuster deal at the August 2022 deadline.

Williams, who had a career-low 2.03 ERA in 2024, has struggled this season and owned a 7.45 ERA in May entering this one. But the veteran right-hander needed just 77 pitches to make it through six innings while yielding only three hits — all singles — and striking out two in his best start of the year.

Seattle right-hander George Kirby (0-2) encountered early trouble in his second start of the season. He gave up consecutive solo homers to García and Bell in the second. Wood connected in the fifth to make it 6-0.

Key moment

Kirby got seven straight outs before unraveling in the fourth. A two-out walk to García preceded an RBI single by Hassell and José Tena’s two-run double.

Key stat

Wood is tied for fourth in the National League with 15 homers.

Up next

Gore (2-5, 3.47 ERA) starts Thursday against Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.95) to close the three-game series.

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Organizers of the Christian rally that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell blamed for a violent riot at a local park pushed back against his claims that they intentionally provoked outrage on Tuesday. 

After police reported multiple arrests at the MayDayUSA rally at Cal Anderson Park on Saturday, Harrell’s office released a statement defending the LGBTQ community and protesters while criticizing the “far-right rally” for provoking the violent reaction.

“Seattle is proud of our reputation as a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice,” the statement read. “Today’s far-right rally was held here for this very reason – to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood.”

Though Harrell’s office suggested the rally was intentionally held at Cal Anderson Park to stir up controversy, pastor Russell Johnson, who helped to lead the event, said the location was suggested to them by the city.

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“The @MayorofSeattle caught in yet another lie. He said we intentionally chose Cal Anderson Park for our worship rally to ‘provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are opposed to Seattle’s values.’ Oops. He must have forgot about the email HIS OFFICE sent us on March 7th denying our permit to gather at Pike Place and SUGGESTING we go to Cal Anderson Park instead,” Johnson wrote on X.

Johnson provided email screenshots showing that their initial location, Pike Place, was rejected for being unable to “successfully facilitate” the event. They also showed that Cal Anderson Park was suggested as an alternative option.

Fellow preacher Ross Johnston also told Fox News Digital that their first location was rejected, and they then chose Cal Anderson Park after the city’s suggestion. He condemned the mayor’s statement for taking the protesters’ side to “make things worse.”

“His reasoning, of course, is that our values inherently opposed the values of Seattle,” Johnston said. “Now, when I hear that, my question is what values is he referring to? Is he referring to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights? Because I don’t know if he knows this, but he’s actually an elected politician in the United States of America. And in the 250-year history of the nation of America, though we might not all see eye-to-eye on every single matter, or even religion for that matter, we all do agree on having the same rights, right?”

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Harrell’s office confirmed that the rally’s Pike Place location was rejected and that a city staffer “shared several parks that had potential availability.” However, Harrell’s press secretary, Callie Craighead, pointed out that Cal Anderson Park was the rally organizers’ first choice after being given other options, providing Fox News Digital with a copy of a permit from March.

Craighead also suggested the rally organizers “directly explained their provocative thinking” when choosing locations by citing a pre-rally video depicting Johnston describing their Pike Place location as “Antifa’s headquarters” and “where thousands showed up for BLM.”

“Mayor Harrell remains steadfast in his denouncement of rhetoric from groups whose messages promote exclusion, intolerance, and undermine the dignity and rights of any community member—particularly those that are marginalized, like our LGBTQ+ community,” Craighead said.

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Harrell accused Christian rally organizers of deliberately stoking outrage. (David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

She added, “As a Christian himself, the mayor is guided by the Christian values of love and justice, and his comments have specifically addressed ideologies that are in contrast to Seattle’s commitment to being a welcoming city for all. Like any faith community, Christianity is not a monolith—and many Christians throughout Seattle do not hold the beliefs expressed by the organizers of the Mayday rally.”

In response to the mayor’s original statement, Johnston and Johnson launched a protest rally outside Seattle City Hall on Tuesday, calling for his resignation. Johnston also emphasized that he “100%” condemned violence.

“We want nobody to be arrested. We want nobody to be hurt or end up in the hospital. Absolutely not. We condone all violence 100% of the time,” Johnston told Fox News Digital.