SEATTLE (AP) — Eugenio Suárez matched his career high with his 49th homer, leading the AL West champion Seattle Mariners over the Colorado Rockies 6-2 on Thursday night, Sep. 25 for their 17th win in 18 games.
A day after clinching their first division title since 2001, the Mariners were assured a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the AL Division Series when Cleveland lost to Detroit earlier Thursday.
Suárez connected on a hanging slider from Bradley Blalock (2-6) for a two-run homer in the second and Seattle never trailed as it won its seventh straight. Suárez, who also hit 49 homers for Cincinnati in 2019, added a run-scoring single in the fifth that raised his career-best RBIs total to 117.
Seattle won its 11th straight home game, tying the team record set from May 20 to June 8, 2001.
Colorado dropped to 4-17 in September and its 116 defeats are the most in the NL since the 1962 New York Mets lost 120.
Seattle’s Emerson Hancock, starting because Bryan Woo left his last start with pectoral tightness, allowed two hits in four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. Caleb Ferguson (5-4) worked around a walk in the seventh.
Dominic Canzone grounded into a run-scoring forceout in the fourth, when Randy Arozarena hit a two-run, two-out single.
Key moment
Cal Raleigh remained at 60 homers and when he popped up to second base in the eighth, hundreds of fans at T-Mobile Park headed for the exits. He needs two homers to tie the AL record set by the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge.
Key stats
Colorado has allowed 1,007 runs, the first team to top 1,000 since the 1999 Rockies gave up 1,028. The Rockies minus-416 run difference will break the post-1900 record of 349 by the 1932 Boston Red Sox.
Up next
Rockies: RHP Germán Márquez (3-15, 6.49) starts Friday at San Francisco against RHP Trevor McDonald (0-0, 3.38)
Mariners: RHP George Kirby (10-7, 4.24) starts Friday’s series opener against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, who send RHP Emmet Sheehan (6-3, 2.86) to the mound,
