Suarez's eighth-inning grand slam was the biggest hit of the Mariners season, and it's also a top-three hit in team history, at least from where I'm sitting.
The Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night at T-Mobile Park. As a result, the M's are one win away from their first trip to the World Series.
Seattle is the only franchise to have never even appeared in a Fall Classic, and they'll head back to Toronto for Game 6 on Sunday night (5:03 p.m. PT) looking to break that footnote.
The moment
Following two walks and a hit by pitch, Eugenio Suarez stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Only needing a sac fly, Suarez deposited a grand slam in the right field seats, breaking a 2-2 tie and lifting the M's to victory. It was Suarez's second home run of the day.
Acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline, Suarez hit just .189 with Seattle in the regular season. He's hitting only .200 in the postseason as well, but this hit will live forever in Mariners' lore.
How it compares
Look, I'm not here to tell you how to rank your own Mariners memories, but I can unequivocally say that Suarez delivered a top-four hit in team history with this grand slam.
The others in contention?
Edgar's double
An all-time classic from the 1995 season, this hit is widely credited with saving baseball in Seattle entirely.
In Game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series, Martinez's base hit in the bottom of the 11th inning sent the M's to their first-ever ALCS. It helped extend the most meaningful season in team history and helped get T-Mobile Park built. It was the team's first playoff run, and it gets bonus points because it included two Hall of Famers in Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr.
Cal ends the drought
Cal Raleigh's game-tying home run on Friday night, hit just batters before Suarez's game-winner, was pretty meaningful too, but it won't get the recognition that this one does.
The catcher, who was in his first full season in the big leagues in 2022, sent the Mariners to the playoffs with this homer against the Oakland A's, ending the 21-year playoff drought.
All the suffering of Mariners fandom over those 21 years ended in this moment.
Luis Sojo's base knock
Martinez's double might never have had the chance to happen in 1995 if not for Sojo's hit. The Mariners and California Angels had to play a one-game playoff that season to see who would win the American League West and make the playoffs.
The M's led 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh when Sojo stepped to the plate. He cleared the bases with a hit down the right field line to give Seattle a 5-0 lead. The M's held onto win, setting the stage for their dramatic defeat of the Yankees in the ALDS.
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