Crawford sends Mariners home happy with 1st career walk-off HR
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SEATTLE -- Mired in arguably his worst stretch of the season, J.P. Crawford might have broken out of it in an emphatic way.
The Seattle shortstop crushed a massive, walk-off homer on Friday night that lifted the Mariners to an emphatic, 4-3 win over the Rangers at T-Mobile Park, jumping on a 95 mph fastball up and in from Rangers closer Robert Garcia in a 2-0 count and demolishing it 370 feet and way beyond right field over their division rivals.
“Just don’t miss the fastball,” Crawford said. “I put a good swing on it, trying to get the guy over, and thankfully I didn’t miss.”
It marked the Mariners’ seventh walk-off win of the season and the first walk-off homer of his career -- and it snapped a stretch of 160 at-bats since his last homer on July 9. Crawford had also been in a 3-for-45 stretch leading into that at-bat and was 6-for-55 (.109) entering Friday since the All-Star break.
The wild win put the Mariners two games ahead of the Rangers for the final spot in the AL Wild Card standings, while moving them 3 1/2 games back of the Astros in the AL West, after Houston lost in Boston earlier.
More than anything, though, was the electric turn of energy that the punctuating moment brought the packed crowd at T-Mobile Park -- nearly all of whom remained in their seats to the very end with a fireworks show postgame.
But it was Crawford who started that display just a few moments early.
“He has been made for the big moments in this ballpark,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, “and we've seen it a lot from him. And tonight, wow, what a huge moment for J.P. and the ballclub.”
With the Mariners trailing by one and down to their final outs, Crawford was set up by Dominic Canzone, who yanked a 106.3 mph single as he continues a promising turnaround since becoming an everyday player.
Crawford was batting in the No. 8 spot for the second straight night as part of Wilson’s new-look lineup coming out of the Trade Deadline.
“A ton of composure from him right there,” said Logan Gilbert, who struck out seven and surrendered three runs over six innings. “Whether it's leadoff, eighth, it doesn't matter. He's going to find a way. But I mean, this is the most complete team I think we've ever had, especially from the lineup, top to bottom. I've never seen anything like it. It's probably up there, if not the best, one of the best, in the league.”
Crawford had been their leadoff man for virtually all season, but the major injections of Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez to the middle of the order pushed Randy Arozarena to the top.
The change, which Wilson has hinted will be semi-permanent in an effort to maintain consistency, was more so to leverage Arozarena’s power-and-speed combo from the get-go while leaning on Crawford’s high on-base threat when the lineup flips.
“We're never out of it,” Gilbert said. “I let up three in the [third inning] or whatever. Just find a way just to keep us in the game. It's not a shutout. It's not unbelievable. But it keeps us in it long enough. Turn it over to the bullpen, we know what they can do. And then with this lineup, if we have three outs left in the ninth, I feel like we've got a pretty good chance.”