KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The baseball popped off Eugenio Suarez’s bat, over the wall in left field and ricocheted off an advertising sign some 400 feet from the plate, just missing one of the Kauffman Stadium fountains.
Suarez held the follow through in his swing for an extra beat, the bat extended in his left hand as he admired the home run. It’s a scene the Mariners have become familiar with this season — one soaring Suarez blast after another — and one they have missed dearly on this sluggish road trip.
This particular homer came during pregame batting practice Saturday afternoon, and offered the strongest indication yet that Suarez is just about ready to return from a small fracture in his right index finger.
Suarez is eligible to return from the injured list Tuesday, when the Mariners return home to start their final, 10-day homestead of the season.
If it was up to him, Suarez would absolutely be back in the lineup Tuesday.
Mariners manager Scott Servais, speaking Sunday morning, wasn’t quite ready to go that far. But there is a good chance Suarez could return to the lineup as the designated hitter against Texas on Tuesday.
“We’ll see. We’ll know more when we get back home and see how he’s feeling there,” Servais said from the visiting dugout at Kauffman Stadium. “But based on what I saw in the last couple of days and listening to Geno, he wants to get in there and help anyway he can.”
Suarez took his first swings since the injury — first full-effort swings — Friday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. He followed up with a full round of batting practice in the cage with teammates on the field Saturday.
“I know it looks like an easy swing, but that’s my full swing. That’s all I have,” Suarez said, smiling. “I feel great.”
With Julio Rodriguez (back strain) landing on the injured list Friday, the Mariners could desperately use Suarez’s thump back in the lineup.
Yes, Suarez said, he expects to play Tuesday.
“That’s the plan,” he said.
Suarez leads the Mariners in home runs (31) and RBIs (84) this season, and his 15 home runs since Aug. 1 are second-most in the American League (behind Aaron Judge’s 18).
Suarez also fielded ground balls at third base on Friday and Saturday, at about three-quarter speed, but he has not yet throw a baseball. He continues to wear a small wrap around the tip of his right index finger.
Ty France, the Mariners’ All-Star first baseman, started at third base for the third straight game Sunday.
France made a nifty diving stop on the foul line on a ground ball during Saturday’s game. Royals rookie standout Bobby Witt Jr. wound up beating France’s throw to first base, but France is showing to at least be a capable fill-in for Suarez.
“I appreciate what he’s doing,” Servais said. “We’re just at that point in the year; we need guys to step up because of injury and he’s done a great job with it.”