SEATTLE — A day meant for celebration turned into a tough lesson in baseball's cruel realities.

Hours after the Mariners honored Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson by retiring his number, rookie Emerson Hancock delivered a performance for the ages. The former first-round pick struck out a career-high 14 batters over seven dominant innings, allowing just one earned run on six hits without issuing a single walk. He threw 103 pitches, 74 of them for strikes.

But baseball is a team sport, and sometimes individual brilliance isn't enough. The Mariners fell 3-2 to the Kansas City Royals in extra innings at T-Mobile Park, wasting what could have been a signature moment for the young right-hander.

Perhaps most impressive was Hancock's stamina. On his 100th pitch, he fired a 95 mph four-seam fastball — a sign of growth from last season when he often struggled to maintain his stuff deep into games.

"I think that's the evolution," Hancock said. "You just continue to work on things. Our high performance staff deserves a lot of credit. My body feels great, and I'm moving really well. It's the work behind the scenes showing up late in the game."

The Mariners gave Hancock an early lead in the first inning when Julio Rodriguez led off with a ground-rule double and came home on Josh Naylor's RBI single. But Seattle's lineup, missing starting catcher Cal Raleigh due to what manager Dan Wilson called "general soreness," couldn't muster enough offense to support their pitcher's gem.

The Royals tied it in the third on Maikel Garcia's RBI double, and the game remained deadlocked until extra innings. Kansas City pushed across two runs in the 10th, and despite a late rally attempt, the Mariners came up short.

For Hancock, it was a night that showed how far he's come — and how much potential he still has. For the Mariners, it was a reminder that even the best individual performances need a little help to turn into wins.