Justin Turner and Randy Arozarena made strong first impressions in Seattle.
Playing in front of the home fans for the first time since being acquired in trades in the past week, Turner went 2-for-4 with a grand slam, and Arozarena reached base three times and scored twice Friday night as the Mariners trounced the Philadelphia Phillies 10-2.
The three-game interleague series between division leaders will continue Saturday night in Seattle.
Victor Robles, Luke Raley and Mitch Haniger also went deep on Friday, and Bryan Woo pitched seven scoreless innings for the Mariners, who won for the fifth time in their past seven games to remain tied with Houston atop the American League West.
Robles hit the game’s first pitch 426 feet into the second deck in left field.
The Mariners scored seven times in the second. Raley hit a three-run shot into the third deck in right field — a 459-foot blast to become just the second Mariner to reach that spot in the 25-year history of Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park after Daniel Vogelbach in 2019. Turner later lined his homer over the Phillies’ bullpen in left for his fourth career slam.
“It all started with the first pitch of the game,” Turner said. “Vic goes deep and kind of sets the dugout on fire. It was just good at-bat, after good at-bat after that, staying in the zone, fouling off tough pitches, taking walks. It was quality one-through-nine the whole night. Usually, when you get that, it’s when you see quite a few crooked numbers.”
Turner endeared himself to the home fans even before taking a swing as, at the suggestion of his wife, he requested “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden, a legendary Seattle grunge band, as his walk-up music when he came to the plate.
The Mariners have scored six or more runs in six of their past seven games, reaching double digits three times in that span, after totaling just 11 runs over six games prior to that.
“There is spice to this lineup, and it comes from all different directions, but certainly the new guys that we brought in add something and they’re all different,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Certainly Randy Arozarena has got a different spice than JT (Justin Turner) does. But it’s rubbing off on guys, and you like to see it. All the guys are feeding off each other right now, and it’s the confidence that they have in the guy behind them.”
The National League East-leading Phillies suffered their fifth consecutive defeat and are 3-10 since the All-Star break. Their 10-game lead over the Atlanta Braves has been cut in half.
“I mean, I thought I gave a pretty good speech before the game, but I guess it wasn’t good enough,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “You just have to keep grinding, just gotta keep battling.”
Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts as his hitless streak reached 23 at-bats.
Right-hander Tyler Phillips, who pitched a shutout against Cleveland in his previous start, couldn’t make it out of the second inning Friday. He allowed eight runs on five hits — including three homers — in 1 2/3 innings.
“I think because of the complete game, stuff was down, command was down,” Thomson said of Phillips. “That’s what I chalk it up to. He’ll get another start.”
The Phillies announced after Friday’s game that right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering (2-2, 2.21 ERA) would get the start on Saturday, the second of his career. Kerkering started and pitched one scoreless inning July 14 against visiting Oakland, a game the Phillies lost 18-3.
Right-hander Bryce Miller (8-7, 3.46 ERA) is set to start for Seattle and, like Kerkering, will face the opponent for the first time. Miller went 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four July starts.
–Field Level Media