SEATTLE – One pitch was all the Mariners needed to recharge some positive vibes into the ballpark Saturday night.
Julio Rodriguez hammered the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the first inning off the left-field foul pole for a loud home run and Jorge Polanco went back-to-back two pitches later to power the Mariners to a six-run first inning en route to a 14-0 dismantling of the Miami Marlins before a crowd of 35,362 at T-Mobile Park.
On the day their ace, Logan Gilbert, landed on the injured list with an elbow flexor strain, the Mariners’ offense provided an immediate lift against Miami starter Connor Gillispie.
Rodriguez and Polanco became the third pair of Mariners to lead off a game with back-to-back homers – Ichiro was involved in the other two – and Polanco added another solo blast in the fourth inning to continue his torrid start to the season.
Rookie third baseman Ben Williamson drove in four runs to continue the blazing start to his big-league career, and the Mariners (15-12) scored a season-high 14 runs on 15 hits.
The M’s will try to win their sixth consecutive series Sunday when right-hander Logan Evans, their top pitching prospect, makes his major-league debut opposite Max Meyer, the Marlins’ emerging young ace.
The 23-year-old Evans, the Mariners’ 12th-round pick in 2023, takes over the spot in the rotation from Gilbert, who will be shut down from throwing for two weeks and then re-evaluated. He’s likely to be out until at least June.
With starter George Kirby (shoulder inflammation) still on the injured list as well, the Mariners will need more from an offense that has shown signs of a steady resurgence over the past few weeks.
This was about as good as it gets for any offense.
Rodriguez’s leadoff homer was his fourth of the season – and seventh of his career – and it was a rocket at 112.5 mph off his bat, with a projected distance of 417 feet.
Polanco’s raised his OPS over 1.000 – to 1.085 by the end of the night – with his two homers, and Williamson and Miles Mastrobuoni had back-to-back two-run doubles during the breakthrough first inning against Gillispie, who was charged with seven earned runs in his two innings.
Ex-Mariners slugger Suarez hits four HRs
Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez became the 19th player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a single game and first since JD Martinez in 2017.
Suarez accomplished the feat in four at-bats, but the Diamondbacks lost to the Atlanta Braves 8-7 in 10 innings at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Suarez, in his second season since being traded from the Mariners for cash considerations, is batting .202 with 10 home runs. He was on a cold streak this month leading up to Saturday’s game, after starting the season with four homers in three games.