SEATTLE — Josh Naylor has only been with the Mariners for 13 days, and his presence in the batter’s box has been, perhaps shockingly, not quite as imposing as when he’s on the basepaths.
Naylor put the Mariners on the board with a seismic, two-run homer in the first inning of Wednesday night’s 8-6 win over the White Sox at T-Mobile Park, which was the first blow in a night full of them. At a Statcast-projected 450 feet, it was the longest of his 98 career blasts.
Yet it was his pair of steals in the seventh that further underscored just how complete of a player Seattle acquired in one of the sport’s splashiest Trade Deadline deals on July 25, as Naylor is now 10-for-10 in steals since joining the Mariners — in only 11 games.
Julio Rodríguez also crushed a tape-measure two-run homer that went 434 feet, and just prior, Cal Raleigh dumped a two-run single that left his bat at 109 mph and rolled all the way to the right-field fence.
With the win, Seattle (62-53) advanced to a season-high nine games above .500, and coupled with losses from Houston and Boston, the Mariners pulled to within two games of both first place in the American League West and the top AL Wild Card spot.
The lineup’s length has been a huge reason why the Mariners are 5-1 since the Trade Deadline, and Naylor settling into the cleanup spot and at first base has, so far, been their biggest boon.
