The Mariners have been baseball’s biggest surprise to start the 2019 season, bursting out to a franchise-best 13-2 start. The club pawned off stars Robinson Canó, Edwin Díaz, and Jean Segura in the offseason as part of a rebuilding effort, so they weren’t expected to be competitive.
Behind the fast opening is the Mariners’ offense. Entering Thursday’s action against the Royals, the club led the league in all three triple-slash stats (.295/.373/.558) and, of course, OPS (.932). They also led in runs (110), hits (149), doubles (29), home runs (34), stolen bases (17), and walks (59). As one can infer from those stats, just about everyone is hitting. Jay Bruce has seven homers. Domingo Santana has four homers and 19 RBI. Tim Beckham might be the biggest surprise, owning a 1.243 OPS and four homers.
The offense continued on Thursday as the Mariners rallied late to secure a 10-inning, 7-6 victory over the Royals. Dee Gordon hit his first home run of the season in the sixth inning. In doing so, he made it 15 consecutive games in which the Mariners have homered to start the 2019 season. That’s a new major league record, per MLB.com’s Greg Johns. The record was previously held by the 2002 Indians.
Dan Vogelbach added another home run to break a 6-6 tie in the 10th inning. The 13-2 Mariners will now head back home for a six-game homestand against the Astros and Indians.
