ARLINGTON, Texas \u2013 What a swing.<\/p>\n
Almost instantly, Dom Canzone dropped his bat and admired the flight of the ball. He knew what he\u2019d just done, and so did everyone else inside Globe Life Field.<\/p>\n
Canzone\u2019s three-run home run flipped the score in the seventh inning and flipped the Mariners\u2019 fortunes in this series \u2013 and, perhaps, beyond \u2013 giving the M\u2019s their first lead in this pivotal four-game series and sending them to a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a stretch to suggest Canzone\u2019s blast \u2013 a dead-pull 400-foot shot to right field, 111 mph off the bat off Cole Winn \u2013 was the most important swing of the season for the Mariners, who were, to be frank, an out-of-sorts mess mess coming into Sunday.<\/p>\n
Canzone\u2019s swing might have delivered the Mariners\u2019 most important win of the season, too.<\/p>\n
The larger emotional swing Canzone provided his team probably can\u2019t be fully realized just yet. We\u2019ll need to see how the this team respond in the coming days and weeks, but this was the sort of game-changing \u2013 season-changing? \u2013 shift the M\u2019s offense has been longing for for quite some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was obviously a big moment,\u201d Canzone said. \u201cIt was nice to just get the team in front and get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the previous five days, the M\u2019s had fallen from first to third place in the AL West. They\u2019d lost four straight, saw one of their beloved hitting coaches dismissed and looked largely uncompetitive in the first two games of this series against a division rival they hadn\u2019t beaten in five tries in this ballpark.<\/p>\n
If nothing else, Canzone offered a chance to exhale \u2013 a moment to celebrate, to relax, after a challenging few days, and a challenging week ahead.<\/p>\n
It was Canzone\u2019s team-leading 16th homer of the season, and it could not have come at a better time.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of relief,\u201d M\u2019s starter Logan Gilbert said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we needed right there, especially in that situation in the game, that late. That was a pretty dramatic way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mariners have been the worst offense in baseball the past six weeks, clubbing just 28 homers in their previous 34 games.<\/p>\n
For a team that has, over the past handful of years, relied on homers as much as any team for run production, it has been a rather shocking downturn in slugging. As a result, the offense has predictably struggled to sustain any sort of offensive momentum, prompting the dismissal of assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes a day before the start of this series.<\/p>\n
Canzone was as close to Magallanes as anyone with the Mariners, and the Mariners\u2019 slugger was visibly upset about the decision.<\/p>\n
None of the players who spoke about Magallanes over the weekend agreed with his dismissal. Club president Jerry Dipoto said Saturday that the coaching change was intended as a way to shake-awake the offense.<\/p>\n
The Mariners offense looked largely lost again Saturday in a 7-1 loss to the Rangers, during which the first batters in the M\u2019s lineup combined to go 1 for 19.<\/p>\n
The first six innings Sunday produced only one more run against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom.<\/p>\n
Trailing 3-1, the Mariners finally broke through in the seventh.<\/p>\n
Colt Emerson and Cole Young had back-to-back singles one-out singles off lefty Tyler Alexander.<\/p>\n
Julio Rodr\u00edguez then flew out on the first pitch from Cole Winn, bringing up Canzone.<\/p>\n
Winn missed badly with his first two pitches, a splitter and cutter. On a 2-0 pitch, Canzone then golfed a low splitter and obliterated it. He flipped his bat and watch the ball sail into the right-field seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got up 2-0 pretty quickly,\u201d Canzone said. \u201cWith (runners) at first and second there, you know he\u2019s got to come in the zone with something. They\u2019ve been throwing me soft pretty much the whole series. Not that I was necessarily sitting on it, but just trying to get something elevated and get it in the air.<\/p>\n
Randy Arozarena followed with a 400-foot homer of his own into the home bullpen beyond the wall in right-center field. It was his 12th of the season, and that made it 5-3.<\/p>\n
The first six batters combined for 12 of the Mariners\u2019 14 hits Sunday, with Young (2 for 5, two runs), Canzone (3 for 5, four RBI), Arozarena (3 for 5) and Josh Naylor (2 for 4) each posting multiple hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially coming from behind and struggling a little bit offensively, obviously, this is a step in the right direction,\u201d Canzone said. \u201cWe need to come out tomorrow and do the exact same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Rangers got within 5-4 in the eighth, Canzone delivered again in the top of the ninth with a double down the right-field corner, scoring Rodriguez from first base.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffense can be contagious, and that\u2019s the hope, that this sparks a fire,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Donovan nears return<\/p>\n
Brendan Donovan, the Mariners\u2019 opening-day leadoff hitter, is scheduled to meet with the club\u2019s medical staff for a physical evaluation Monday in Seattle to determine next steps in his return from a groin strain.<\/p>\n
There is \u201ca chance,\u201d manager Dan Wilson said, that Donovan could join the Mariners in Los Angeles when they begin a series against the Dodgers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The club will have a better feel for Donovan\u2019s timeline after his assessment Monday. Donovan and his wife are also expecting a baby due any day.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom all reports that we hear, I think things are in a good trajectory,\u201d Wilson said this weekend.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Donovan played in his third straight game with the High-A Everett AquaSox, his eighth rehab game over a 12-day stretch between three stops. The Mariners had built in off days for him as he eases his way back into action.<\/p>\n
Donovan led off and played right field Sunday in Everett, going 1 for 4 with an infield single. He is still clearly working on his timing at the plate, registering just two hits in his first 30 at-bats between Everett, Triple-A Tacoma and rookie-level Arizona.<\/p>\n
From the Mariners\u2019 perspective, though, Donovan has reported feeling strong physically, and that has been their main priority.<\/p>\n
Donovan, who had sports hernia surgery in October, has been on the injured list since May 16, his second IL stint during his first season in Seattle. He has appeared in 25 games with the Mariners, hitting .274 with three homers and an .839 OSP.<\/p>\n
Donovan has played third base, second base, left field and right field during his rehab assignment, and he\u2019s expected to assume a super-utility role when he does return to the Mariners, moving around those four positions and perhaps mixing in some DH days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas \u2013 What a swing. Almost instantly, Dom Canzone dropped his bat and admired the flight of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-387376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}