SEATTLE -- Randy Arozarena, what have you done?!
The All-Star slugger capped the game of his career with the Mariners by crushing a walk-off homer to stun the Cubs in a 5-4 win at T-Mobile Park on Saturday afternoon.
He also crushed the very first pitch he saw out of the leadoff spot earlier in the day, after being moved to the top of the order when Brendan Donovan was a late scratch.
But that wasn’t even Arozarena's best act of the day.
Arozarena also made arguably the Mariners’ catch of the year with a home run robbery against Chicago’s Miguel Amaya in the third inning to back Kade Anderson, who was making his MLB debut.
“I think it's my biggest game,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “I didn't expect to come into the game and hit two home runs and rob one. But yes, it was a special day for me, a special performance for myself. But most importantly, this moment in time for the team and being able to help the team win is the biggest thing for today.”
The totality of it all wasn’t completely quantifiable by historical measures -- home-run robberies are not an official stat -- but it sure looked unprecedented, and even more so, felt it.
We can, however, measure the rarity of Arozarena’s feats within the batter’s box. Per Elias, he became just the seventh player ever with a leadoff and walk-off homer in the same game.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was the most recent to pull off the feat, on Monday at Wrigley Field. And coincidentally, it was over his head that Arozarena’s game-winning shot sailed just five days later.
Before Crow-Armstrong, however, you’d have to go back to Chris Young (Aug. 7, 2010 -- for the D-backs) then Ian Kinsler (July 19, 2009 -- Rangers), Reed Johnson (June 15, 2003 -- Blue Jays), Darin Erstad (June 25, 2000 -- Angels) and Vic Power (May 7, 1957 -- Athletics).
Yet, among that group -- Arozarena joined only Crow-Armstrong and Power to do so on the very first and last pitches that his team saw that day.
“It's kind of like you saw it coming,” said Anderson, who was called up from Double-A Arkansas to help the Mariners in their playoff push. “And Randy, he's a special player.”
Moreover, with Texas and Houston both losing on Saturday, Arozarena’s heroics helped Seattle (62-68) gain ground in its playoff push, as the club now sits three games back of first place in the American League West.
The Mariners also clinched this weekend’s series against the Cubs, who’ve been one of the sport’s hottest teams since the All-Star break.
The walk-off
After Anderson surrendered the lead in what was shaping up to be a decisive sixth, the Mariners went 1-for-12 to come down to their final out, trailing by two with the bases empty.
But Weston Wilson punched a double and Leo Rivas followed his game-winner Friday with a single, all of a sudden bringing Arozarena to the plate as the winning run.
He took a called strike one on a slider at the bottom of the zone from reliever Jacob Webb, who went back to the same offering -- and paid mightily for it.
“The plan against him is throw trash,” said Amaya, Arozarena’s robbery victim. “He’s going to chase. But, hung that pitch and he was ready for it.”
The robbery
Arozarena’s best catch in this ballpark came before he was a member of the Mariners, during the 2023 All-Star Game while he was still with the Rays. And his best catch ever, in his estimation, was the robbery while playing for Team Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
But Saturday’s shot up his personal charts.
Aided by 6.2 seconds of hang time on Amaya’s sky-high shot, Arozarena had time to backpedal to the warning track, make the leap and extend his glove well over the wall to bring it back.
“Both of those moments were special because I was able to make plays in games where the fans were into it,” Arozarena said. “The fans are special and mean a lot to me because they help me give the best that I have. They also help me have fun, and I feel that when I’m having fun, I’m showing the best version of myself.”
The leadoff blast
Arozarena wasn’t even supposed to be atop the lineup on Saturday but was installed there just minutes before first pitch, when Brendan Donovan was scratched after taking a baseball off his head in the batting cages.
And he was all over a 93.5 mph sinker from lefty David Peterson, yanking it 105.3 mph and 416 feet to the pull side. He became Seattle’s fifth leadoff hitter to homer this season -- joining Donovan, Cole Young, J.P. Crawford and Rob Refsnyder -- setting a franchise record.