Dominic Canzone was closer to assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes than just about anyone on the Seattle Mariners’ roster.
The two spent hours working on making Canzone more than just a platoon player.
So Canzone took it pretty hard when Magallanes was fired Thursday, the fall guy for the Mariners’ anemic offense.
Canzone responded by hitting his team-leading 16th home run, a three-run shot in the seventh inning, and added an RBI double in the ninth as the visiting Mariners rallied for a 6-4 victory against the Texas Rangers on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
The four-game series between the top two teams in the American League West concludes Monday afternoon.
“Offense can be contagious, and that’s the hope, that this sparks a fire,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
The reigning division champion Mariners snapped a four-game skid and moved past the Houston Astros into second place in the division, 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Rangers.
Canzone’s homer gave the Mariners the lead and Randy Arozarena went deep on the next pitch, both off Rangers reliever Cole Winn.
“I just left a pitch over the middle and (Canzone) took advantage of it. Same thing with Randy,” said Winn, who hadn’t allowed a run in his previous seven appearances. “There’s really nothing to that aside from making bad pitches and them capitalizing.”
The Mariners, who rely on the long ball more than just about any other team in baseball, had gone deep just 28 times in their previous 34 games.
“It was obviously a big moment,” Canzone said. “It was nice to just get the team in front and get a win.
“Especially coming from behind and struggling a little bit offensively, obviously, this is a step in the right direction. We need to come out tomorrow and do the exact same thing.”
The Rangers won the first two games of the series 5-4 and 7-1.
They took a 3-1 lead into the seventh Saturday.
“I think the bullpen, we have different guys in different lanes that have done really good, and we’ve had some hiccups along the way that have cost us just like everybody else,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “Today the home run cost us.”
Monday’s series finale is set to feature a pair of right-handers in Seattle’s George Kirby (8-8, 3.57 ERA) and Texas’ Kumar Rocker (3-8, 4.13).
Kirby pitched six innings last Monday in an 8-0 victory against visiting Cincinnati, giving up three hits and striking out six. Kirby is 9-1 with a 1.33 ERA in 12 career starts against the Rangers. He suffered the lone loss by a 3-2 margin April 7 in Arlington despite pitching eight strong innings. He rebounded to beat them 7-3 on April 18 in Seattle.
Rocker beat the visiting Chicago White Sox 10-0 on Tuesday with six innings of one-hit ball. He’s 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in four career starts against Seattle.
–Field Level Media
