‘Donnie Barrels’ lives: Solano hits his first Mariners homer

Earlier in his career, Donovan Solano earned the nickname “Donnie Barrels” for his proficiency at the plate. But the nickname hasn’t been used much this season, the 37-year-old infielder’s first with the Seattle Mariners.

On Wednesday afternoon, however, “Donnie Barrels” reappeared.

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Solano jumped on a 1-0 fastball from Arizona pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez to lead off the fifth inning, sending the pitch 381 feet to the stands in left field. The home run, which pushed the Mariners’ lead to 2-0, was his first in 91 plate appearances this year with Seattle.

While Solano has struggled in a platoon role this season, mainly seeing action at first base against left-handed pitching, he has been quietly picking up steam in recent weeks. Following Wednesday’s homer, he is 7 for 20 (.350) with four RBIs in nine games since May 24.

That hasn’t moved the needle much with his overall season numbers, however, showing how tough the start to his M’s tenure has been. Even after his first blast of 2025, he has a .188/.231/.247 slash line for a .478 OPS, with just three of his 16 hits going for extra bases.

In the five seasons prior to this year, though, Solano hit at least .280 in each of them. He won a Silver Slugger in 2020 with the San Francisco Giants, and in 2024 slashed .286/.343/.417 for a .760 OPS with eight homers, 13 doubles and 35 RBIs in 96 games for the San Diego Padres.

The Mariners have been in need of power lately, because even with catcher Cal Raleigh leading MLB with 26 homers, his four in June is nearly half of the nine Seattle has hit this month. Furthermore, before Dominic Canzone, Randy Arozarena and Rowdy Tellez each homered in the previous two games, Raleigh had 80% of the Mariners’ homers in June.

Seattle (33-33) has skidded amid those offensive struggles, falling out of first place in the AL West with a 4-12 record since May 24.

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• A Ryan O’Hearn trade for Mariners ‘should not break the bank’
• What ESPN’s Passan says has ‘hindered’ Mariners’ major league offense
• Hyphen: Why Mariners’ George Kirby suddenly looked dominant
• Seattle Mariners place Bryce Miller on IL, recall Logan Evans

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