KANSAS CITY – On a night when Cal Raleigh made both Major League Baseball and Mariners history, Dominic Canzone was not-so-quietly entering the record books as well.
Starting at designated hitter for the first time this season, Canzone went 5-for-5 and clobbered three homers in the Mariners’ 12-5 win over the Royals on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.
It was the first three-homer game of his professional career -- and the first time he could remember hitting three homers in a single game at any level in his life.
“Huge night for Dom,” said manager Dan Wilson. “We saw some great at-bats Sunday at home, and he just brought it out here again today. You don’t hit a cheap homer in this ballpark, you’ve got to earn it, and he crushed the balls today. Just his ability to be an all-around hitter as well has been very apparent the past couple of days, and he has really swung the bat.”
Canzone belted his first homer in the second inning, a solo shot that went 419 feet to right field on a hanging slider from the Royals’ Michael Wacha. Canzone then took Daniel Lynch IV deep on a 447-foot blast to center field before capping his career performance with a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Jonathan Bowlan.
In just 72 games, Canzone has hit a career-high 10 homers. He is batting .304 after going 8-for-10 with seven RBIs in his past two starts.
Canzone is just the second Mariner with five hits and three homers in the same game, joining Mickey Brantley (Sept. 14, 1987). His 14 total bases were the second-most in a single game in franchise history, trailing only Mike Cameron’s 16 total bases -- on four home runs -- on May 2, 2022.
On Tuesday, the Mariners scored 12 runs, notched 14 hits, walked four times and hit five home runs. It’s that type of production Canzone attributed to not only his big night, but Seattle’s as a whole.
“Having such a deep lineup just takes the stress off of everyone,” Canzone said. “Not one guy needs to do all the damage, not one guy needs to hit a homer, so I think it’s taking a lot of pressure off everyone. I think that’s why everyone is having so much success.”
Canzone’s four-RBI game propelled the Mariners to their 10th straight win. Seattle (83-68) holds a half-game lead over Houston (83-69) for the AL West lead, with the two teams set to match up this weekend for a three-game set that will decide the season tiebreaker.
And despite all these historic personal accomplishments, the club is still focused on the bigger picture -- winning.
“That’s the beauty of it, that’s what these guys in that clubhouse want to do; they want to win,” Wilson said. “That’s what is driving them. This is an incredible group.”