Víctor Robles began the Seattle Mariners’ long-ball explosion Friday night with an upper-deck blast on the first pitch. Luke Raley one-upped Robles with another upper-deck shot, launching one of the longest home runs in recent T-Mobile Park history. Trade-deadline acquisition Justin Turner then provided the exclamation point with a grand slam in his first home game with the Mariners.
By the time Turner rounded the bases and touched home plate, Seattle held an 8-0 lead in the second inning of its series opener against the National League-leading Philadelphia Phillies.
It served as quite the emphatic start to the Mariners’ nine-game homestand, especially considering the offensive struggles that have plagued them for so much of the season.
Here’s a look at all three home runs:
• Robles’ upper-deck shot came on the first pitch from Phillies rookie starter Tyler Phillips in the bottom of the first. Robles launched it into the upper deck in left field for a 426-foot homer that registered a 109.8 mph exit velocity. It continued a red-hot stretch for Robles, who is batting .368/.429/.566 with three homers, six doubles and nine stolen bases in 34 games with the Mariners since being designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals.
• Raley added another upper-deck shot in the second inning, hammering a three-run homer that rocketed off the bat at 115.4 mph and soared 459 feet into the upper deck in right field. It was tied for the second-longest home run by a Mariners player at T-Mobile Park in the Statcast era, which began in 2015. The longest belongs to Mike Zunino, who clubbed a 470-footer in 2018.
• Turner provided the knockout blow with a 397-foot grand slam over the left-field fence in the second. It was his first homer since the Mariners acquired him in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
