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Seattle Mariners

Dee Gordon blast gives Mariners MLB record 15 straight games with homer to open season

Seattle Mariners' Dee Gordon is congratulated in the dugout after scoring against the Los Angeles Angels in the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 2, 2019, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
By Ryan Divish Seattle Times

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It wasn’t Edwin Encarnacion or Jay Bruce, nor was it Daniel Vogelbach or Ryon Healy or any of the expected home run bashers.

So it had to be Mitch Haniger, the team’s best overall hitter, right?

Wrong.

The Mariners went into Major League Baseball’s record books thanks to the home-run power of Dee Gordon.

Excuse me?

Yes, Dee Gordon.

Seattle’s spindly second baseman smacked a solo home run in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game vs. the Royals, giving the Mariners a home run in their first 15 games of the season. That streak surpassed the MLB record of 14 previously held by the 2002 Cleveland Indians.

Gordon sat on an 0-1 curveball from KC starter Jorge Lopez, pulling it over the wall in right field for his first homer of the season. It was just the 16th homer of Gordon’s career, which has spanned nine seasons and 866 games.

Vogelbach added a solo homer in the 10th inning, his sixth of the season, to lift the M’s to a 7-6 win over the Royals to extend their early-season record to 13-2.