Dominic Canzone homers, Emerson Hancock sharp in M’s victory over Guardians
That’s more like it.
Dominic Canzone hit a three-run home run in the second inning, and the Mariners’ maligned offense provided some early run support for young right-hander Emerson Hancock in a 5-4 victory in the opener of a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night before a crowd of 21,322 at T-Mobile Park.
One of the Mariners’ breakthrough hitters in spring training, Canzone was hitless in his first eight at-bats of the regular season, with four strikeouts.
He didn’t miss in his first at-bat Monday against Cleveland’s Tristin McKenzie, sending an elevated 91-mph fastball to the opposite field, 411 feet out to left-center field.
It was his first hit of the season, and sixth home run since joining the Mariners in a trade-deadline deal for Paul Sewald last season.
Ty France had given the Mariners a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring single to drive in Mitch Garver, putting two runners on for Canzone.
The Mariners loaded the bases in the fourth inning to chase McKenzie, and they added another run when Luis Urias worked a bases-loaded walk off reliever Nick Sandlin. That extended the Mariners’ lead to 5-2.
That proved to be enough support for Hancock, making his first start of the season and just the fourth of his major-league career as an injury fill-in for Bryan Woo.
Hancock was aggressive and efficient, throwing a first-pitch strike to 18 of the 23 batters he faced and mixing in all four of his pitches to work into the sixth inning. His final line: 5.1 innings, four hits, three earned runs, one walk and one strikeout on 81 pitches.
Hancock (1-0) earned his first major-league victory.
On his “No Fly Zone” bobblehead night, Julio Rodriguez made two spectacular catches in center field, both robbing Will Brennan. Rodriguez’s crashed into the wall to haul in the first catch, and then came in to make a sliding grab backhanded on the second one.
In the sixth, though, Rodriguez couldn’t come down with a third web gem. He leaped at the wall, but the ball hit by Tyler Freeman deflected off his glove and over the fence for a solo homer.
It would be Hancock’s final pitch of the night.
The Mariners had their first ejection of the season in the top of the third inning, when utility player Dylan Moore was booted from the dugout by second-base umpire Vic Carapazza.
After a review, a hit-by-pitch was awarded to Cleveland’s Ramon Laureano on a pitch from Hancock. That overturned the call on the field of a groundout.
Moore, who was not in the starting lineup Monday, appeared to be arguing that Laureano had swung as the pitch hit him in the hand. A video replay appeared to support Moore’s argument, but first-base umpire Adam Hamari had ruled that Laureano checked his swing.
Laureano was awarded first base, Moore was ejected, and the Guardians mounted a rally off Hancock, scoring two runs to cut their deficit in half.
The Mariners had two runners thrown out at the plate, stalling two more potential offensive outbursts.
In the eighth, Andrés Muñoz left a slider up in the zone that Josh Naylor turned on and belted out to right field, cutting the Mariners’ lead to 5-4.
In the ninth, new reliever Ryne Stanek retired the side in order to record his first save as a Mariner.