Takeaways: Conforto offers a sharp reminder to Mariners of what could have been

Michael Conforto provided the Mariners with a painful reminder Friday night of what they walked away from three years ago in the MLB Draft.

Conforto, 24, is a Seattle native who attended Redmond High School and Oregon State marked his first professional game at Safeco Field by hitting a pair of homers and leading the New York Mets to a 7-5 victory over the Mariners.

"It's a little more special here," he admitted. "It’s a dream come true for me to play out here, let alone get two home runs."

The Mariners had a chance to draft Conforto with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft but opted instead of Alex Jackson, a catcher from San Diego generally viewed as the top high school player in the draft.

Conforto went four picks later to the Mets and, a year later, was playing in the World Series. Meanwhile, Jackson languished in the low minors, fell out of favor in the organization and was traded last November to Atlanta.

What could have been.

Conforto hit his first homer Friday in the third inning against Mariners starter Ariel Miranda in helping the Mets build an early 4-0 lead.

The Mariners rallied to take the lead and carried a 5-4 edge into the eighth, when they summoned lefty specialist Marc Rzepczynski to face Conforto, a left-handed hitter, to start the inning.

Conforto lined Rzepczynski’s second pitch into the right-field seats for a game-tying homer. The Mets scored two more runs in the inning, and their bullpen closed out a victory.

The two homers boosted Conforto’s season total to 21, and he raised his slash numbers to a potent .291/.398/.586 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage).

"He’s a big-leaguer," Mets manager Terry Collins said, "and he’s going to be a real good one. We’ve talked many times this summer about what he’s done to get to where he’s at today, and I applaud that.

"He’s stayed with his game; he hasn’t gotten out of it. Even though he pulled both home runs tonight, he’s still a good hitter, uses the field to hit. And I’ll tell you, he’s played pretty good on the other side of the ball too."

The Mariners appear well-stocked in their outfield for the foreseeable future, but it’s hard to look at Conforto, a Seattle kid who had been viewed as a top prospect, and not wish for a mulligan with that 2014 pick.

"It’s a little surreal," Conforto admitted. "The last time I was here on the field, I was 16 years old taking batting practice, and I wasn’t getting anywhere close to getting balls out of this ballpark.

"Now it feels a little smaller."

Three takeaways from Friday’s loss:

***Cruzing off course: Nelson Cruz’s roller-coaster year is in another down cycle. He is hitless in his last 16 at-bats after going 0-for-3 in Friday’s loss. The optimistic view is when he breaks out, he’s likely to break out with a bang.

Cruz went 24 games without a home run from June 5 to July 4, and then hit six in a nine-game span while driving in 13 runs.

***Zep getting zapped: Rzepczynski had not allowed a homer to a left-handed hitter this season before Conforto’s game-tying shot, but he’s been in an extended funk — allowing eight runs and 12 hits in 3 2/3 innings over his last 15 outings.

Rzepczynski had a 1.23 ERA through his first 23 appearances. It’s now up to 3.93.

"I’ve been thinking about it," he said. "When I fall behind, I’ve become pretty predictable. I probably don’t throw my slider enough."

***Giving up outs: Mariners manager Scott Servais hates giving away outs, which is why baserunning blunders starch his shorts. It’s also why the Mariners rank 29th among the 30 MLB clubs in sacrifice bunts.

So it was a surprise to see Jarrod Dyson put down a sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning when the Mariners, trailing by two runs, put two runners on base with no outs.

Dyson did it on his own and, while the bunt moved the runners to second and third, the Mariners got nothing out of it. Mike Zunino struck out, and Jean Segura grounded out.

Bob Dutton: @TNT_Mariners

This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Takeaways: Conforto offers a sharp reminder to Mariners of what could have been."