It didn’t take long for the Seattle Mariners to match their season-high home run total on Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After the M’s tied their season high with four home runs in the series opener on Friday night, they mashed four more in the first three innings off D-backs right-hander Ryne Nelson to open up a 4-0 lead.
Three Mariners having career power months in May
Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone got it started for Seattle with back-to-back solo shots in the second inning.
Raley turned on a fastball from Nelson for a 390-foot blast to right-center field, his team-leading 13th homer of the season. It was the right fielder’s second homer in as many games and his eighth in May, setting a new career high for a single month.
Canzone took advantage of hanging breaking ball in the next at-bat, launching 412-foot homer way back into the right-field seats, his sixth of the year.
Colt Emerson picked it back up in the third for the M’s when he yanked a sinker from Nelson 365 feet for another solo homer to right field. It was the rookie’s second career home run.
Julio Rodríguez capped the early homer barrage with the most prodigious blast of the four, mashing a 417-foot homer to straightaway center field. The homer was the Rodríguez ‘s 12th this season, fourth in his past six games, and 10th in May – adding to his career-best homer total for a single month.
Nelson hadn’t allowed more than two homers in any of his previous 90 career starts.
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