SEATTLE _ Eight days ago, the Seattle Mariners left T-Mobile Park victorious _ an occurrence that hadn't happened much in the weeks prior. The hope was that it might kick-start a trend of better play on a road trip against divisional foes.
What transpired was quite the opposite, Seattle slogged through six games in seven days, looking even worse than it had before, finding a myriad of embarrassing and frustrating ways to lose every game on the road trip, sinking to a new low point for the season.
But the losing finally stopped in the last location the Mariners had won. On an unseasonably warm night, with a sparse announced crowd of 14,135 in attendance Monday, the Mariners played perhaps their most complete game in weeks, getting solid pitching from their starter and bullpen, quality at-bats and timely hitting, smart, aggressive base running and clean error-free defense to roll to a 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak and improved their record to 24-32. It was just the sixth victory in the past 27 games for the Mariners. They will try to secure back-to-back victories for the first time since May 13-14. They've won back-to-back games just twice since April 25-26, which also came against the Rangers at T-Mobile Park.
And while putting an end to the losing was important to the team, it was still sort of overshadowed by something that has now happened just three times in regulation games at the park previously known as Safeco Field.
With two outs in the seventh inning and the Mariners clinging to a 3-2 lead, designated hitter/homer basher Daniel Vogelbach crushed a 3-2 curve ball from Jose LeClerc along the right-field line. The impact of ball off the bat made a frightening sound in the half-filled stadium. The towering megablast just kept carrying and going up. The ball finally landed in the first row of the third deck in right field, above the suites that sit above the Hit It Here Cafe.
Vogelbach took a step from the box, watching it go as he started to amble to first.
Would it stay fair? Would it hook foul? Was the baseball dented from impact?
First base umpire Dan Iassogna tracked the ball carefully. After a brief pause, he made an emphatic signal that the ball was fair and that it was a home run.
The crowd didn't quite know how to react. They were stunned by the prodigious power and the hesitation of the call. But once Vogelbach circled the bases, he got his deserved standing ovation.
The umpires did a replay review just to make sure, but it took less than 30 seconds to confirm it was a home run.
The third deck in right field is hallowed territory to hit a baseball. Jason Giambi hit several there in the 2000 Home Run Derby, but Vogelbach is just the third player to do it in a game. Boston's Mo Vaughn was the first back in 1999, depositing a Gil Meche pitch there. Nearly two years later, on Aug. 7, 2001, Toronto's Carlos Delgado put a ball up in the third deck off Arthur Rhodes.
Unfortunately, MLB Statcast was malfunctioning Monday evening so there was no distance or exit velocity. You had one job, Statcast.
But this isn't the first time for Vogelbach to hit one there in a semi-game situation. Two years ago when Felix Hernandez was throwing a simulated game as part of his recovery from injury, Vogelbach smashed a ball into the third deck off the erstwhile ace. It left teammates and even Hernandez gasping in disbelief.
And if that wasn't enough Monday, Mallex Smith became the first player to steal home since Dustin Ackley on May 20, 2012.
In the bottom of the eighth, Smith worked a walk, stole second base, stole third base and then took off for home when pitcher Kyle Bird attempted a slow pickoff throw to first base. Smith's gallivanting around the bases gave the Mariners a 6-2 lead.
Seattle got a commendable start from veteran left-hander Tommy Milone, who worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.
The Mariners grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third off Rangers starter Lance Lynn. Smith led off the inning with a single, stole second and later scored on Kyle Seager's one-out bloop single to left field. Following a walk to Omar Narvaez, Domingo Santana added to his team lead in RBI, pulling a ground ball through the left side to score Seager. It was Santana's 42nd RBI of the season.
The Rangers got a run back in the third inning. Milone gave up a two-out single to Joey Gallo and Logan Forsythe hit a ball off the top of the wall in left field for a run-scoring double.
Seattle answered in the bottom of the inning. Shed Long led off with a double into the right field corner and Smith collected his second hit of the night, singling to right to score Long with ease.
The Mariners got brilliant relief work from Cory Gearrin, Jesse Biddle, Austin Adams and Anthony Bass, who combined to hold the Rangers to just two hits over 3 1/3 shutout innings.
