Mariners belt 5 home runs, stunning the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox in home opener

Amid the pageantry and excitement of Opening Day around baseball, few expected the Seattle Mariners, projected to finish the 2019 season with one of the worst records in baseball, to completely dismantle the defending World Series champions.

But, that’s what the new-look Mariners did here Thursday afternoon, combining for five home runs, and christening the newly rebranded T-Mobile Park with a 12-4 win over the Boston Red Sox.

“In that clubhouse there, we don’t really care too much about what people think, or what they say,” Mariners ace Marco Gonzales said. “We’re going to come out and compete, and do what we do.

“We’ve got a locker room full of guys looking for stuff to prove, and I think that’s dangerous. When you get a good group together like that, you’re going to see some fun things happen.”

The Mariners, who swept the Oakland A’s in their two-game opening series in Japan last week, extended their early lead in the American League West, and are 3-0 to begin a season for the first time since 2014, and for just the fourth time in franchise history.

And yes, puzzling as it may be to some, the Mariners do have the best record in baseball.

“Great way to start the season here at home,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “A lot of things have been written about our club, and we have a lot of games yet to play, but I like our team. And I think the more time they spend together getting to know each other, it should be an interesting year.”

Despite featuring mostly new faces on the roster this season — 12 of the 25 players on the active roster were not with the organization when the 2018 season ended — many of the Mariners players have said they don’t believe this has to a “step back” season, as it has so often been called.

Thursday’s win against one of MLB’s best starting pitchers in Chris Sale, and an organization that opened as an early favorite to become the first to repeat as World Series champions since the 2000 New York Yankees, at least makes those statements seem viable early on.

The 12 runs Seattle scored on five Boston pitchers Thursday are the most given up on Opening Day by a defending World Series champion in MLB history.

“When we take the field it’s about winning the ball game,” Servais said. “We’re not concerned about the future, the direction and all of this other stuff, the re-imagination. It’s about winning today’s game. That’s what the big leagues are about. Good day today, we’ll see what it leads into tomorrow.”

The Mariners jumped on Sale in the second and third innings, scoring seven of their runs to build an early lead they never lost in the final six frames.

Beckham started the fireworks with a 430-foot solo shot to left before Domingo Santana drove in David Freitas and Dee Gordon on a two-out double down the line in right to give Seattle a 3-2 advantage.

Edwin Encarnacion tacked on a solo home run to right to lead off the third inning for the Mariners, igniting a four-run spree. Beckham added his second home run in as many at-bats — and third already of the season — with a two-run blast to center.

Beckham, who is on a one-year contract with the Mariners and often thought to be a filler at shortstop until prospect J.P. Crawford is ready for the big leagues, has made an early case for why he belongs in the daily lineup.

He was 0 for 15 in his career against Sale entering the game, but said he wasn’t thinking about that when he tagged the Boston ace with the two home runs.

“I just wanted to see a ball up in the zone,” Beckham said. “I mean, I know the past history. I don’t care about that. He still has to come out and throw the ball tonight. I respect him. He’s a really good pitcher, but I want to see something up in the zone that I can handle.

“He threw me two good change ups before that, and he normally gets me with the fastball up, and I was looking for the one up, and got a good pitch to hit.”

David Freitas sent a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Mallex Smith, who went screaming around the bases for a triple in the previous at-bat to push the lead to 7-2 in the third.

Ryon Healy belted his second homer of the season to left center in the fifth, and Domingo Santana launched his second of the season in the seventh for the Mariners’ final run of the game.

Eight of the nine Mariners in the starting lineup scored at least once, and the only one who didn’t, first baseman Jay Bruce, walked in the sixth to force in a run with the bases loaded. Santana scored on a fielding error two batters later.

Early on, it appeared the Red Sox might be on their way to working toward an efficient opening win. Mariners starter Marco Gonzales, a Gonzaga product, gave up a trio of singles in the first, with reigning American League MVP Mookie Betts eventually scoring the game’s first run.

Eduardo Nunez scratched across another run for Boston in the second on an Andrew Benintendi sac fly.

But, Gonzales then tossed three scoreless frames, and eventually left after 5 1/3 innings with a comfortable lead.

“That’s probably the most consistent that I’ve felt this year,” he said. “Definitely the most confident in the zone with all of my pitches. I feel like I worked ahead in the count for the most part and made a couple of mistakes, but didn’t let things snowball.

“I’ll take ones and zeros all day. Especially when we’re swinging the bats like we are, I’m just trying to give us a chance to win.”

Boston scored twice more in the top of the sixth, on a Christian Vazquez double to left that scored Nunez, and a Benintendi single that scored Vazquez, but never cut the Mariners’ lead to less than five runs.

Gonzales (2-0, 4.76 ERA) allowed four runs on nine hits, while striking out four and walking one, on his way to earning his second win in as many starts.

During his first start in Japan, Gonzales became the first pitcher not named Felix Hernandez to open a season for the Mariners since Erik Bedard in 2008. Gonzales got the call again Thursday.

“I was ready for it,” he said. “This was something I’ve been waiting for for a long time, and ever since I knew I was going to get this game, I knew it would be something special, so I came ready to go today.”

Sale (0-1, 21.00) exited the game after three innings, allowing seven runs on six hits, while striking out four and walking two. He was also tagged with the Mariners’ first three home runs.

This is the third consecutive season the Mariners have won their home opener. They’re 6-1 in home openers since 2013.

“It’s a good feeling,” Beckham said. “No matter what team you’re on, you want to come out and play winning baseball. I’m here in Seattle with a great group of guys, and guys that love to compete. I love it, it fires me up.

“But, as far as a good start, it’s three games into the season. Tomorrow is a new day. You want to come out tomorrow and produce.”

ON TAP

The Mariners (3-0) host the Red Sox (0-1) in the second game of a four-game series at 7:10 p.m. Friday at T-Mobile Park.

Japanese rookie left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 1.93 ERA), who made his MLB debut last week in his home country, is set to meet Boston right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (6-7, 3.81 in 2018) in his first start of the season.

This story was originally published March 28, 2019 at 7:47 PM.