'Fun game': Mariners bash three early home runs in rout of Phils

SEATTLE -- The Mariners’ new-look lineup gave the Statcast crew at T-Mobile Park a workout when the club opened a huge homestand on Friday night against the Phillies, as Victor Robles, Luke Raley and Justin Turner each crushed massive homers to put a 10-2 victory out of reach early, then Mitch Haniger went deep in the seventh.

That foursome combined for 1,692 feet of distance, and the outburst came against the team with the National League’s best record.

“Fun game,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “That’s the way they’re supposed to all be. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Here’s a breakdown of each the early homers, and why they carried more weight than a typical long ball:

Robles sets tone
The energetic outfielder made an emphatic return to the lineup after exiting Tuesday’s game with a hip flexor injury and missing Wednesday’s game altogether, demolishing the very first pitch in the first inning into the second deck in left. He immediately turned to the home dugout after his huge hack, stared down his teammates then thrust his bat down the first-base line before beginning his trot.

At 426 feet, it was the fourth-longest of his eight-year career and easily his most dramatic since joining the Mariners in early June. Robles has been a revelation, now hitting .367 and slugging .557 (way above his career clip of .363) with Seattle, solidifying both center field and the leadoff spot while Julio Rodríguez (high right ankle sprain) and J.P. Crawford (fractured right pinkie) are on the IL.

That Robles is dealing with his own injury -- and able to play through it -- adds even more value to his recent production.

“What he's done for our club, it seems like I'm talking about him every time postgame here,” Servais said. “But the quality of the at-bats, the energy he brings and it starts from the first pitch he sees tonight.”

Raley reaches nosebleeds
It’d be hard to out-do Robles on most nights, but Raley did so when sitting all over a middle-middle fastball from rookie Tyler Phillips and crushing it for a three-run blast all the way into the upper deck in right field an inning later.

With a distance of 459 feet and an exit velocity of 115.4 mph, it was tied for the second-farthest and third hardest-hit homer by a Mariner in Seattle in the Statcast era (since 2015).

According to unofficial tracking from Mariners PR, Raley became only the seventh hitter to reach the top deck beyond right field since the venue opened in 1999 -- the others being Mo Vaughn (1999), Carlos Delgado (2001), Nomar Mazara (2019), Daniel Vogelbach (2019), Joey Gallo (2020) and Shohei Ohtani (2021).

“That ball went a long way,” Turner said. “I want to know what that feels like. And I know that I never will.”

Raley has cooled mightily since his red-hot stretch in May, entering Friday hitting .199 with a .686 OPS since June. But he showed just how much power he can pack on any given night. On Friday, he was playing first base -- a spot he’ll see more action at moving forward, after the club moved on from Ty France last week.

“What I've been fighting is my timing more than anything,” Raley said. “And to get one like that to right field, you know that you're back on time.”

Turner quickly a fan favorite
Making his Mariners debut in Seattle, after Monday’s trade with the Blue Jays, Turner put a bow on the offensive onslaught with a 397-foot grand slam as part of a seven-run second inning. He was set up by a single from Robles and walks from Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh -- all with two outs -- before working into a 2-1 count then ambushing a hanging sweeper, which also ended Phillips’ night

At age-39, Turner and the Mariners know that he may not possess the power he had during his prime with the Dodgers. But Friday’s sequence underscored precisely why Seattle acquired him -- to put the ball in play, especially in leverage moments.

• Turner's veteran presence welcome addition for Mariners

Turner is now hitting .333 with a .944 OPS with two outs and runners in scoring position -- both easily the best on the team.

“I've had a lot of at-bats,” Turner joked. “No, I just think that when you get in those situations, I've learned that you don't try to do too much and take what they give you and have small goals -- and sometimes big things happen.”