Seager crushes homer No. 200, Gonzales solid again as Mariners hold off Angels
There are now four players in baseball history who have hit at least 200 home runs in a Mariners uniform.
Welcome to the club, Kyle Seager.
With his three-run shot in the third inning Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park, Seager not only paced the Mariners to a needed 7-6 win over the Angels, but he joined some impressive company on the way.
Ken Griffey Jr.: 417 home runs as a Mariner.
Edgar Martinez: 309.
Jay Buhner: 307.
And now, Kyle Seager: 200.
“I’m still a few behind them,” Seager joked on his postgame video call with reporters. “I might have a little way to go. I appreciate the company, but I think I’ve still got a little while to go to catch those guys.
“But, 200 is definitely something I’m very proud of. It’s not something I necessarily thought was going to be part of my game growing up or even when you break in (to the majors). So, it’s something I’m extremely proud of.”
Seager has been exceptional at the plate to open this shortened season as he begins his second decade with the club. He finished Wednesday’s win hitting 2-for-5 with two runs scored, the three RBI and a stolen base.
Now the longest-tenured Mariner after the departure of Felix Hernandez last fall, he’s anchored the middle of the lineup the first two weeks, and is 15-for-46 (.326) with five doubles, two homers, two stolen bases and six walks to just four strikeouts in 13 games.
His team-leading 14 RBI rank third in the majors behind Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (17) and former teammate Nelson Cruz (15).
“Right now he’s probably swinging the bat as good as he has at any point,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “ ... The stability in the middle of it is really, really key.
“You’re going to get a good at-bat from him. It’s been all year.”
The landmark homer couldn’t have come at a better time. When he crushed Angels lefty reliever Ryan Butcher’s fastball into the empty seats in right field, he gave the Mariners a 3-1 lead they never lost, and helped Seattle snap a four-game losing streak.
“He put an exclamation point on that thing, too,” Mariners ace Marco Gonzales said. “I’m super happy for him. He’s had an amazing career and to do it all here in Seattle is really, really admirable. I hope he celebrates that one. It’s a great accomplishment for him.”
Seager’s 71st career homer against a left-handed pitcher is also the most in the majors by a left-handed batter since his first full season in 2012.
“Kyle’s got a really good approach against the lefties,” Servais said. “He’s got a good idea of what they’re going to try to do to him. He laid off a couple breaking balls there to get to the fastball, and he didn’t miss it.
“And he is on time a lot of nights when those lefties are coming at him trying to dot that fastball away. He’s able to get out, and get around it and hit it in the seats.”
Servais guessed the 426-foot blast might be the longest homer he’s seen Seager hit at T-Mobile Park.
“He really got all of that one,” Servais said.
Seager joked he’s figured out the home runs that land in the third row count for just as much as Wednesday’s long, towering shot that landed near the Hit It Here Cafe.
And, the lead gave Gonzales enough to work with. He was solid through seven complete innings, allowing three runs on three hits with seven strikeouts on 99 pitches, and did not walk a batter.
The only three hits Gonzales allowed were solo homers to Max Stassi in the third, and back-to-back shots to David Fletcher and Mike Trout in the sixth, but that was after the Mariners had tacked on an additional run.
Stassi’s homer gave the Angels the early one-run advantage, but they never led again after Seager’s homer.
J.P. Crawford and Dylan Moore hit back-to-back singles ahead of him, and with two outs, and he clobbered Butcher’s to make it 3-1.
Seattle’s offense tacked on three more runs in later innings to keep the lead in tact.
Dylan Moore, who finished 3-for-5, doubled to lead off the fifth and promptly scored on a single from rookie Kyle Lewis.
Lewis and Seager then ignited a two-out rally in the seventh with back-to-back singles before catcher Austin Nola doubled them in. Nola finished 2-for-4 with the two doubles. Lewis finished 2-for-4 with the two base hits and a walk, and continues to lead the majors with 20 hits. It was his seventh multi-hit game of the season.
Rookie Evan White joined in with a ground-rule double to right that scored Nola, breaking an 0-for-17 stretch to push the lead to 7-3.
Though the Angels never completely closed the gap, Trout blasted his second homer of the game in the eighth to keep it close.
Camas High School product Taylor Williams, who has been one of Seattle’s more reliable relievers early on, ran into immediate trouble in the inning, allowing a leadoff single and hitting a batter.
With two outs and a full count, Trout mauled a slider from Williams for a three-run homer into the bleachers above Edgar’s Cantina in left. It was his third of the series, 27th in his career in T-Mobile Park and 44th against the Mariners.
“You never feel good when he’s hitting,” Seager said. “He really is special. It’s been incredible just to watch him. ... You just kind of sit back and you just kind of enjoy it and just watch him as a fan just like everybody else, and hopefully he doesn’t come up in a situation to beat you.”
In this instance, Trout was a base runner short from completely shifting the game.
Carl Edwards Jr. came in and pitched a clean ninth inning for the Mariners, striking out pinch hitter Brian Goodwin and rookie Jo Adell to notch his first save since his World Series season with the Cubs in 2016.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 9:50 PM.
