Seattle Mariners' Dominic Canzone hits 1st career grand slam

Dominic Canzone was in the midst of a power outage at the plate entering Tuesday, but he changed that with one big swing in the Seattle Mariners’ game against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park in Houston.

After going 16 games without a home run, Canzone left the yard in grand fashion against right-hander Tatsuya Imai, launching a center-cut first-pitch slider 381 feet with a 105.5 mph exit velocity for his first career grand slam and a 6-2 Mariners lead.

Canzone’s big blast was set up by command issues from Imai, who was making his first start back from the injured list, and a little help from MLB’s new Automated Ball-Strike System.

Imai got ahead of Randy Arozarena 0-2 in the leadoff at-bat of the fourth inning and appeared to have recorded the first out with a called strike three, but Arozarena successfully challenged the call to keep his plate appearance alive. On the next pitch, Imai hit Arozarena with a slider. Imai again lost control of his breaking ball in the next at-bat and hit Luke Raley in a 2-2 count. J.P. Crawford followed with a four-pitch walk.

After his command issues loaded the bases, Imai left a hanging slider that Canzone crushed into the seats in right field for his fourth homer of the season.

Canzone’s big blast broke a 1-for-18 slump at the plate. It was also just his second extra-base hit since April 21.

This was the second straight time the Mariners were able to get Imai, who was the Astros’ prized free agent signing this past offseason following a standout career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

Imai made his first career start against the Mariners on April 10 at T-Mobile Park. The right-hander was unable to get out of the first inning, allowing three runs on one hit, four walks and a hit batter while recording only one out. The Astros placed Imai on the 15-day injured list with right arm fatigue three days after the start.

Seattle Mariners’ Dominic Canzone hits 1st career grand slam

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