These were Seattle's best home runs of decade

SEATTLE -- Home runs are fun. And the Mariners have hit plenty over the years. From Ken Griffey Jr. to Nelson Cruz to Jay Buhner and beyond, there have been plenty of sluggers who’ve worn a Seattle uniform.

The Mariners set an MLB record for the most homers in a season in 1997, a mark that stood until 2018, and they established another record this past year by becoming the first Major League team to homer in 20 straight games to open a season.

So, as we near the final days of 2019, here’s a look back at the top 10 dingers of the past decade by the Mariners.

1) Nelly goes fishin’ at the Trop
May 27, 2015

Nelson Cruz smashed 163 homers in his four seasons with Seattle and many were mammoth blasts. But when it came to sticking the perfect landing, it’s hard to top the tater that the big DH launched off Tampa Bay reliever Brad Boxberger that landed in the Rays’ fish tank beyond the center-field wall at Tropicana Field. The three-run shot came with two out in the top of the ninth, which lifted the Mariners to a 3-0 win and saved the day for Félix Hernández, who threw a complete-game four-hitter for the win.

2) Get out the tape measures
Sept. 24, 2016

As noted, Cruz crushed more than his share of majestic home runs, and his longest recorded by Statcast was a towering 493-foot shot into the third deck at Target Field off Twins reliever Tyler Duffey. It was quite a weekend in the Twin Cities for Cruz, who clubbed four homers in three games -- including a 454-footer -- and hit his final long ball of the series after hurting his wrist on a swing, then stepping back into the box and knocking another ball over the fence before being removed from the game.

3) Cano with an MVP blast
July 11, 2017

Robinson Canó cranked out 107 homers in his five seasons as Seattle’s second baseman, but his biggest was one that doesn’t even count in his official stats. The eight-time All-Star won the Mid-Summer Classic in Miami for the American League with a 10th-inning blast off Cubs closer Wade Davis. Canó earned All-Star Game MVP honors -- and a shiny new Corvette -- for his go-ahead solo shot in the 2-1 win. It was the first extra-inning homer in an All-Star Game in 50 years.

4) Almost out of the park
June 29, 2018

T-Mobile Park is not an easy place to leave the yard, given the massive height of the upper decks in center and right field. No hitter has yet sent a ball out of the park during a game at Seattle’s home field since it opened in 1999, but catcher Mike Zunino came close when he pulled a shot 454 feet into the upper rows of the top deck in left field off the Royals’ Ian Kennedy in a 4-1 victory.

5) A Vogey-bomb to remember
May 27, 2019

Unfortunately it came on a night Statcast wasn’t working, but Daniel Vogelbach unleashed one into the upper deck above the Hit It Here Café in right field -- the first hit in that location at T-Mobile Park by a Mariner -- with a moon shot off the Rangers’ Jose LeClerc in a 6-2 win. The blast was so prodigious that Mariners manager Scott Servais had the spot where the ball hit marked with a yellow cone and police tape the following day.

6) Making some history
June 9, 2019

Edwin Encarnación wasn’t a Mariner for very long, but he took full advantage of his time in Seattle to continue climbing the all-time home run charts. The veteran DH hit two homers in a 9-3 win in Anaheim to lift his career home run total to 400 and RBI total to 1,200. He became just the 56th player in MLB history to reach 400 homers, and only three other active players at the time had more career RBIs.

7) An All-Star moment for Segura
July 18, 2018

After getting a late invite into the All-Star Game as the American League’s Final Vote winner in fan balloting, Jean Segura made his mark in the AL’s 8-6 win in Washington, D.C., with a three-run blast in the eighth inning off Brewers standout Josh Hader. Segura seemed in line for the All-Star Game MVP Award when he gave his team a 5-2 lead, but the National League rallied to tie the game and Houston’s Alex Bregman wound up earning the award after hitting the game-winning homer in the 10th.

8) LoMo keeps Mariners in the hunt
Sept. 18, 2014

Seattle was in the thick of the AL Wild Card hunt, battling to keep its hopes alive, when Logan Morrison delivered a clutch three-run homer with two out in the top of the ninth in a scoreless battle in Anaheim. The homer off Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen led the Mariners to a 3-1 win that improved their record to 82-70 and pulled them within a game of the A’s in the Wild Card chase.

9) Looking to the future
Sept. 12, 2019

Rookie Kyle Lewis introduced himself to the Mariners in a most impressive fashion, becoming the first player in MLB history to hit six homers in the first 10 games of a career. The longest blast for Lewis was a 457-foot shot to dead center in his third game against the Reds, when he joined Trevor Story of the Rockies as the only players to homer in each of their first three games.

10) Hello, Henry Blanco
June 15, 2013

Henry Blanco played just 35 games and hit .125 in 96 at-bats for the Mariners as a 41-year-old backup, but the veteran catcher had impeccable timing. In his first game for Seattle after being released by Toronto, Blanco cracked a grand slam to help fellow Venezuelan Félix Hernández to a 4-0 victory in Oakland. Blanco wound up with three homers on the season for Seattle, two of them being grand slams.

Honorable mention: One last blast for Ichiro
June 6, 2012

Many people wondered how many home runs Ichiro Suzuki might have hit if he’d concentrated on power instead of hitting for average during his iconic career, given his ability to blister ball after ball into the seats during batting practice. Instead, he racked up 3,089 hits in his 19-year MLB career. Of those, 99 were home runs during his 14 seasons with Seattle, the last one coming on a solo shot off David Carpenter of the Angels in the eighth inning of an 8-6 win in Anaheim, six weeks before he was traded to the Yankees.