The Mariners reached a milepost on Thursday afternoon, and it carried even more weight after their 7-2 win over the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y., which clinched a 4-2 road trip on this six-game stretch.

The finale of the three-game series was the club's 82nd game. The Mariners (43-39) entered the second half of the season in a spot that perhaps even they didn’t know they were capable of reaching as recently as one month ago.

• Box score

“A lot of things are clicking for us,” said outfielder Jake Fraley, who homered for the sixth time. “It’s going really well for us as a team, and that's the cool thing about, you know, every single night we go out and play, it's always a different guy.”

Consider all of the attrition that the Mariners weathered in June: They lost Kyle Lewis to right knee surgery, sent Jarred Kelenic back to the Minors, became more uncertain about Evan White’s left hip and are still sorting out what to do with Justin Dunn, who is on the IL with right shoulder inflammation.

Yet Seattle keeps rolling, taking two of three against the postseason-hopeful Blue Jays after taking two of three over the first-place White Sox last weekend. The Mariners now head home for a grand reopening at T-Mobile Park on Friday, complete with fireworks and no health and safety restrictions. And their opponent for the occasion will be last-place Texas, followed by the reeling Yankees and the Mike Trout-less Angels.

Essentially, this nine-game homestand that will carry Seattle to the All-Star break could be another trajectory-defining stretch.

“You find out a lot about your guys when you're playing on the road,” manager Scott Servais said. “And now, we've got fans in the stands again. So that makes it a little bit more challenging. The home team is feeding off the adrenaline that the fans will give them, and as the visitor, you've got to be able to handle that and combat it. I thought our guys did a great job of that, slowing some at-bats down, working through tough spots on the mound and executing pitches.”

How are the Mariners in this position, anyway, with their Rookie of the Year sidelined, their prized outfield prospect sorting things out in the Minors and one of their top starters dealing with a shoulder injury? The latest formula was encapsulated in Thursday’s win: Live by the long ball and rely on the emerging ace.

Seattle tagged Hyun Jin Ryu for five runs (four earned) and chased Toronto’s $80 million ace after just four innings, his second-shortest start since signing with the club last season. More notable was the Mariners' patient and diligent approach against the 2019 All-Star, who also earned the National League ERA title that season.

Ryu entered Thursday having allowed just one homer to a lefty since joining the Jays, but Jake Fraley and Shed Long Jr. both took him deep -- and with two outs, to boot. That gave Yusei Kikuchi plenty of breathing room over seven dominant innings of one-run ball.

“[We were] just being patient and really like boxing him up, especially for lefties,” Fraley said. “He throws a lot of junk. So [he is] trying to get you to pick off, pick off, meaning chase off of the zone. So for lefties, [the goal] was really just [to] get on the plate, knowing that he's gonna try to get you to chase outside, and just try to stay off of the offspeed [pitches] and see one of the fastballs.”

Back to the Mariners’ hot streak: The turning point in the eyes of many was June 13, when Seattle bounced back from a brutal loss in Cleveland to beat reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber in the series finale.

That sparked a 12-4 stretch for Seattle, during which the club homered 27 times, trailing only the Padres (35), Nationals (30) and Angels (28). The Mariners' .750 win percentage in this run was second only to Washington’s .824 mark.

Mariners’ record by month
April: 15-12
May: 13-15
June: 14-12
July: 1-0

The offense vastly improved in this hot stretch, too, entering Thursday with a .783 OPS over the past 16 games (which ranked eighth in the Majors), compared to .648 leading up to that point (which ranked dead last).

It certainly helps the Mariners’ case that their best pitchers have also delivered, especially with how dominant Kikuchi has become. On Thursday, he gave up one run, via a mistake-pitch homer to Marcus Semien, over seven impressive innings. The outing lowered his ERA to 3.18, nearly two full runs lower than it was in an up-and-down 2020 (5.17).

“I said before the game started, I thought [Kikuchi] was worthy of pitching in the All-Star Game,” Servais said. “And he backed it up today.”