Arozarena's Three-Run Blast Buries Boston Early, Seattle Rolls 9-6
Randy Arozarena's 382-foot home run to left in the second inning turned a manageable deficit into a five-run crater, swinging Boston's win probability from 26% all the way down to 10%. Seattle never looked back, finishing off a 9-6 road win on September 1st behind four Mariners home runs and a dominant outing from Bryan Woo.
The first inning set the tone for a long-ball heavy night — Dominic Canzone went deep to right center (406 feet) to put Seattle up 1-0, and Mickey Gasper answered immediately with a 404-foot shot of his own to knot it at 1-1. That was as close as Boston would get. The second inning is where this game was decided. A Crawford sacrifice fly scored Naylor, then Brock Rodden's infield single plated Young, and then Arozarena unloaded — a 382-foot blast to left that scored both Montes and Rodden and pushed the lead to 6-1. The win probability swung from 26% to 10% on that single swing. Game over, for all practical purposes.
Lazaro Montes looks like the quiet story of the night for Seattle. He went 2-for-4 with a homer and 2 RBI, but his fingerprints were all over the scoring sequence — he scored in the second on the Arozarena homer, singled home Naylor in the third to make it 7-1, and then went deep to center (407 feet) in the fifth to push it to 9-1. Bryan Woo did his part on the mound: 6.0 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. That's a quality start by any measure, and it appears Woo gave Seattle's bullpen exactly the cushion they needed to absorb a late Boston push.
Boston's comeback attempt was real but never threatening enough. Rodden's throwing error in the sixth let a run in to make it 9-2, and a two-run double by White in the seventh brought it to 9-4. Then Jahmai Jones — in just one plate appearance — crushed a 420-foot homer to left in the ninth that scored Anthony and made it a 9-6 final. Gasper also crossed the plate twice for Boston, and Jones finished 1-for-1 with 2 RBI, but the math was never going to work. Alec Gamboa gave Boston only two innings before the bullpen took over, and by then Seattle had already built a wall. The Mariners came into Boston and handled business.