ARLINGTON -- The bat flip signified both an exhale and “enough of this.”
The man wielding the lumber on Sunday afternoon carried the credibility to make such an unspoken gesture. And given how mightily the Mariners have floundered, a case could be made that the 111 mph, 400-foot result was the swing of their season.
Dominic Canzone -- arguably the most consistent hitter in Seattle’s listless lineup -- launched a three-run homer into the second deck at Globe Life Field and lifted an entire clubhouse on his shoulders to stop the bleeding during this brutal stretch.
Seattle hung on to a 6-4 win over Texas to snap a four-game skid, emerging victorious in Arlington for the first time in six games this season.
Despite how flat this weekend began, the Mariners have a chance to even this four-game series and pull back to a half-game of first place in the American League West with one more win Monday.
“Especially coming from behind and struggling a little bit offensively, obviously, this is a step in the right direction,” Canzone said. “We need to come out tomorrow and do the exact same thing.”
Canzone’s 400-foot blast in the seventh inning was immediately followed by one of identical length from Randy Arozarena. Then, for a curtain call, Canzone drove in a critical insurance run in the ninth, yanking an 0-2 changeup into the right-field corner for an RBI double.
Before the seventh, the Mariners hadn’t led at any point in the series. And given the offense’s maddening inconsistency -- which led to the dismissal of its assistant hitting coach on Thursday -- a two-run deficit late in this one looked mountainous.
Basically, there could not have been a more opportune time for a big hit -- and the majesty of this one lived up to the billing.
“It was obviously a big moment,” Canzone said. “It was nice to just get the team in front and get a win.”
We’ve seen possible inflection points countless times this season, so it’d be way too imprudent to suggest that this could be the trigger that finally gets the Mariners going. They recognize that, too, with manager Dan Wilson saying: “That's the hope, that this sparks a fire.”
It’ll take an extended stretch of multiple series to identify if this team has turned a corner. But at the very least, Sunday presented the opportunity for the Mariners to catch their breath.
“A lot of relief,” said Logan Gilbert, who surrendered three runs over 5 2/3 innings. “I mean, that's what we needed right there. And especially in that situation in the game that late, that was a pretty dramatic way to do it.”
Canzone’s team-leading 16th homer didn’t just provide a spark; it also offered a reminder for how vital the long ball is to the success and sustainability of Seattle’s offense.
The Mariners hadn’t homered since Julio Rodríguez’s pinch-hit blast on Tuesday. No team in baseball has relied more on home runs than the Mariners, who improved to 44-25 when they leave the yard, compared to 8-29 when they don’t. A sizable 49.8% of their runs have been scored via the homer, second-most in MLB.
It’s made their significant dropoff in slugging percentage that much more exacerbated. Seattle entered Sunday slugging .375 compared to .420 in 2025, representing MLB’s third-largest dip, behind only the Mets and Blue Jays.
“When everybody is able to just help out offensively,” Arozarena said through an interpreter, “even if it's just a hit here or there, we're able to add on to each other. And especially with the great pitching staff that we’ve got, once we start getting clicking offensively, this team can look a lot different.”