It was only fitting that Eugenio Suarez’s 1,000th career hit was a home run. That is 1,001st hit was a homer, well, that works too.
Of course, for the ultracompetitive Suarez, that his milestone achievement and multihomer game came in a mistake-filled 9-6 loss to the White Sox where he made a costly error also won’t be forgotten.
The veteran third baseman picked up hit No. 1,000 in the Mariners’ four-run third inning off Chicago starter Michael Kopech.
With the Mariners having already scored two runs, Kopech gutted an 0-2 fastball down the middle to Suarez. From his simple set up, Suarez unleashed the effortless swing that has such frightening power. It resulted in a missile of a homer toward the left-field stands.
“Obviously, my first home run was special,” Suarez told ROOT Sports postgame. “I never thought was going to get 1,000 hits in my career. It was special because my dad and mom were here. My wife, of course, she watches all my at-bats, and I know my two little ones at home they cheered for me and that was more important to me.”
The ball kept carrying and traveling, eventually landing halfway up into the upper deck — a prodigious blast that measured 425 feet with a 111 mph exit velocity. It was the 219th homer of his career.
“He’s super strong,” manager Scott Servais said. “He doesn’t get enough credit. You look at some of the big bashers in the game and Geno kind of goes under the radar, but he has hit as many home runs as anybody in the last four or five years in this league. We see why. Our ballpark is big. It’s hard to hit him here on a daily basis and you look at the end of the year and he’s gonna have over 30 homers.”
Suarez’s costly error — his ninth of the season — came in the sixth inning. He misplayed a routine ground ball off the bat of No. 9 hitter Seby Zavala to start a four-run running where the White Sox took a 6-4 lead.
He made up for that mistake in the eighth inning, tying the game with a solo homer to right-center. It was his 27th homer of the season.
“For me, it was a very happy moment, but we lost the game,” he said. “And to me everything is about the team first.”
Since the start of the 2018 season, Suarez has hit 156 homers. Only one player has hit more homers than him in that span, Aaron Judge, who homered on Wednesday giving him 157 over that same time frame.
Signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela by the Tigers, Suarez hit just four homers in 85 games in his debut season. He was traded to the Reds along with minor-league pitcher Jonathan Crawford for pitcher Alfredo Simon before the 2015 season.
Suarez found his power in Cincinnati. He hit 13 homers in 97 games in 2015 and saw his power numbers increase each year. He hit 189 homers with the Reds over seven seasons, including 49 in 2019. From 2017 to 2021, he hit 155 homers.
“Geno has been awesome really all year long, but recently he’s putting the barrel on the ball up and he’s hitting it in the air,” Servais said. “He’s got all kinds of power and he’s been huge for us. I love having him hitting in the middle of our lineup. You always know you’re gonna get a good at-bat from him. And’s he just pummeled the mistakes. He doesn’t miss very many of them.”
Gonzales gives back through Grace
On Wednesday, Marco and Monica Gonzales celebrated the release of their new red-blend wine “Grace G7” through Chelan-based Noviello Vineyards.
The couple held a media announcement before Wednesday’s game at T-Mobile Park and held a celebration that evening for teammates and friends.
This isn’t a business venture for the young couple. It’s about raising money for a cause.
Since he was traded to the Mariners in 2017, Marco and Monica planned to make Seattle their permanent home. Monica, whose maiden name is Zender, was born and raised in the Sammamish area and was a track star at Eastlake, met Gonzales at Gonzaga. They have been active in charities and causes in the Seattle area over the last five years.
But this cause hits close to home. All the proceeds from sales of Grace G7 ($42 bottle) will go to Defeat MSA — a nonprofit supporting multiple system atrophy (MSA) research.
Monica’s mother, Linda Zender, passed away from MSA in 2021.
In searching for a way honor Linda’s battle and also raise awareness of a relatively lesser-known but debilitating disease, they decided on creating a wine with Frederic and Ana Stern, who were close friends with the Zender family.
“It was ultimately inspired by my mom and the disease that she was battling and the way she battled the disease,” Monica said. “Multiple systems atrophy really takes so much of a person and she just handled all of the adversities with so much grace. She was so adamant about getting other people grace, not knowing what anyone is going through at a certain time. And it just became such an important word for our family, so much so that our daughter, who was born shortly after my mom passed, we named her Grace Linda after my mom.”
Marco has made being a presence in the community a priority and a responsibility.
“It goes back to our time at Gonzaga,” he said. “We were always taught to give back to our community as student athletes. I think since the moment we’ve got here we always try to find some way to be involved and help out beyond baseball. We believe we’ll be here beyond baseball.
“With our roots here, with her family here, with Gonzaga being so close, and all of our friends and family here, we just feel like it’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s what we’re meant to do here. We feel like we have a role in that, and we enjoy it. We love giving back and we hope to inspire others to do the same.”