Emerson Hancock allowed five runs in five innings in a loss to the Blue Jays on Friday.

Concerningly, he struck out just one batter. Most of his improvement this year has been about raising his whiffs from 20.3 percent in 2025 to 23.7 percent in 2026 while drastically raising his strikeout rate. Hancock allowed nine hard-hit balls in this one and batters were all over both of his fastballs. Things figure to get easier next week against what’s left of the A’s in Safeco Field, but this was not the sort of start you watch and think that Hancock got unlucky in.