From Platoon Player to Franchise Hero: How Dom Canzone's Two Homers Stunned the Dodgers
Dominic Canzone went from a part-time platoon bat to the Mariners' most clutch hitter in one night, launching two home runs off lefties to beat the defending champion Dodgers 7-6. Here's the story of how it happened.
The Player Nobody Trusted Against Lefties Just Beat the Dodgers Twice
For most of his career, Dominic Canzone barely got to swing against left-handed pitching. Managers kept him in a strict platoon role, reserving his bat almost exclusively for right-handers. On Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, that entire narrative collapsed in the span of three at-bats.
Canzone launched two home runs — both off left-handed pitchers, both in high-leverage moments — to power the Seattle Mariners past the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6, in a series opener that turned into a full-blown slugfest in front of 51,686 fans.
A Team Desperate for a Spark Found One Seattle didn't arrive in Los Angeles riding momentum. The Mariners had just dropped three of four games to the Texas Rangers, watching their AL West lead evaporate along the way. They needed something to change the story — and Canzone delivered it almost single-handedly.
It wasn't just his night, either. The Mariners as a team unloaded a season-high five home runs, getting extra thunder from Cal Raleigh, Julio RodrÃguez, and a returning Rob Refsnyder, who homered in his first game back from the injured list. But it was Canzone's two blasts, both against pitchers who were supposed to have his number, that decided the outcome.
Homer No. 1: Breaking Even Against an All-Star
Down 5-4 in the sixth inning, Canzone stepped in against Dodgers All-Star lefty Justin Wrobleski — a pitcher who'd allowed just eight home runs all season in 107 innings before that at-bat. Canzone turned around a high fastball and sent it 433 feet into dead center field, tying the game at 5-5. It was the fourth home run the Mariners had hit off Wrobleski that night alone.
Homer No. 2: The Knockout Punch
Two innings later, Seattle had a chance to strike again. Julio RodrÃguez led off the eighth with a single and immediately stole second base. The Dodgers responded by summoning their best left-handed weapon out of the bullpen: Alex Vesia, a reliever who hadn't allowed a single home run to a lefty hitter all year.
Vesia threw back-to-back sliders. Canzone turned on the second one and drove it 414 feet to center field for a two-run shot, putting Seattle ahead 7-5. RodrÃguez, watching from second base, threw his arms up in celebration before the ball had even landed. At the plate, Canzone dropped his bat instantly — he knew.
It marked the first time in his career Canzone had ever homered off a left-handed pitcher twice in the same game, and pushed his season total to a team-leading 18 — a new career high, and proof that whatever role he was pigeonholed into before this season no longer applies.
The Dodgers Wouldn't Go Quietly
Los Angeles spent the entire night blowing leads — three separate one-run advantages evaporated over nine innings, and the Dodgers grounded into three double plays along the way. But they made Seattle sweat until the very last out.
In the ninth, Dalton Rushing led off with a single, and Shohei Ohtani followed with a double to right that was mishandled by defensive replacement Victor Robles, scoring Rushing and pushing Ohtani to third as the tying run with nobody out. Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz had to work out of it, eventually getting Mookie Betts to ground out and end the threat, locking down his 19th save of the season.
The Other Storylines Worth Knowing
- Shohei Ohtani opened the scoring with a first-inning solo shot that actually traveled a foot farther than Canzone's first homer of the night.
- Cal Raleigh answered in the second inning with his 11th home run of the season.
- The Dodgers briefly regained the lead 2-1 in the third on a Freddie Freeman double-play grounder that scored a run.
- Seattle surged back ahead 4-2 in the fourth thanks to a Julio RodrÃguez solo homer and a two-run blast from Refsnyder.
- Max Muncy gave the Dodgers a 5-4 lead in the fifth with a leadoff homer — setting the stage for Canzone's takeover in the innings that followed.
Mariners starter Luis Castillo struggled, allowing five runs on 11 hits over five innings, but the bullpen — led by winning pitcher Jose A. Ferrer's clean seventh inning — held the line long enough for the offense to take over.
Where This Leaves the Mariners
The win pushed Seattle to 53-55 on the season and pulled the team back to within 2½ games of the first-place Texas Rangers in the AL West. It's a small step, but a meaningful one after a demoralizing week, and it comes with a bonus storyline: a player who was written into a limited role for most of his career suddenly looks like one of the most dangerous bats in Seattle's lineup, lefty or righty.
The Mariners continue the series Wednesday, with Emerson Hancock (6-4, 3.16 ERA) taking the mound against Dodgers lefty Eric Lauer (5-5, 4.83 ERA).
The Bottom Line
Dom Canzone didn't just win a baseball game on Tuesday — he rewrote his own scouting report in real time. Two homers, both off left-handed pitching, both in moments that decided the outcome against the defending champions. If this is who Canzone is now, the Mariners may have found the missing piece they didn't know they had.
This article reflects game results and reporting from the Mariners' 7-6 win over the Dodgers on July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles.
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