Watch: Mariners’ J.P. Crawford hits leadoff HR in 2nd straight game
Jun 9, 2024, 12:23 PM | Updated: 1:26 pm
J.P. Crawford of the Seattle Mariners celebrates his leadoff home run against the Royals on Saturday. (Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
(Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
For the second day in a row, Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford led off the game with a home run.
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After going deep on the first pitch of Saturday’s game, Crawford opened Sunday’s series finale against the Kansas City Royals with a 429-foot blast to right-center field for his sixth homer of the season and the 12th leadoff homer of his career. It marked the first time a Mariners player has hit leadoff homers in back-to-back games since Julio Rodríguez in September 2022, according to Mariners PR.
Crawford’s leadoff shot on Sunday came on a 2-1 fastball from Kansas City left-hander Cole Ragans. It marked just the second time in 209-plus career major league innings that Ragans has surrendered a home run to a left-handed hitter. The only other lefty slugger to homer off Ragans was superstar Shohei Ohtani on June 12, 2023.
He did it again! @jp_crawford sent this one 429 feet for his second leadoff HR in as many days. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/rZrzJAso6U
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) June 9, 2024
Crawford’s 12 career leadoff homers rank second in Mariners franchise history. Ichiro Suzuki holds the top spot with 37.
Crawford’s leadoff blast on the first pitch of Saturday’s game was the fifth first-pitch leadoff homer of his career. He has four first-pitch leadoff homers since the start of the 2023 season, which is tied with Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien for the most in the majors over that span.
Crawford got off to a slow start at the plate this season and then missed nearly four weeks with an oblique strain. Since returning from the injured list on May 20, the 29-year-old veteran is batting .257/.325/.514 with four homers and seven doubles in 20 games. For the season, he is hitting .230/.313/.404 with six homers, one triple and eight doubles in 42 games.
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