SEATTLE_The ball, or whatever tattered pieces were left of it, traveled off the barrel of Mike Zunino's bat 454 feet, give or take, settling in the second-to-last row in section 183, not far from the bright Safeco Field sign beyond left field.
It was Zunino's 12th home run of the season, and it was something to behold.
That, indeed, is becoming something of a theme in this transcendent season for the Seattle Mariners _ that this is team that continues to show it's worth rallying around, deserving of a city's attention.
And the Mariners did it again Friday night, riding a complete game by Marco Gonzales to open a nine-game homestand with a 4-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
The Mariners (52-31) won their fifth straight game, climbing within 2.5 games of the Houston Astros in the AL West, and they did so before 25,558 fans who rose to their feet as Gonzales made his slow walk back to the dugout after retiring the Royals on seven pitches in eighth inning.
The crowd rose to its feet again as Gonzales (8-5) bounced out of the dugout and ran to the mound to start the ninth inning.
Gonzales allowed a leadoff double to start the top of the ninth, and missed out on a chance for his first career shutout when Mike Moustakas hit a two-out, two-strike single to score Adalberto Mondesi from second.
On the next pitch, with the crowd chanting his first name, Gonzales got Salvador Perez to ground into a force out and finish his first complete game.
The 26-year-old left-hander out of Gonzaga needed just 96 pitches for his first career complete game, striking out seven and scattering six hits.
Mitch Haniger hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning off Royals starter Ian Kennedy to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. It was his 17th homer of the season, and his 61 runs batted in rank second in the majors.
Zunino hit his 12th homer off the season off Kennedy in the fifth inning, on a 93-mph fastball served down the middle. It was about as long as any home run you'll see at Safeco.
Jean Segura added an RBI single in the seventh for the Mariners.
