SEATTLE — “I’ve gotta go hang a trident!” the voice of the Seattle Mariners exclaimed, and off he went, beaming through the ballpark corridors. Rick Rizzs, 71, had tossed the ceremonial first pitch on this seismic afternoon, then narrated the pitch nobody here will forget, the one Eugenio Suárez blasted into the memories of the only fans to never host the World Series.
They waited for Rizzs on a plaza below, those revelers in navy and teal and blue and gold. Suárez, the prodigal third baseman, had put them there with his tiebreaking grand slam in the eighth inning of Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, powering the Mariners past the Toronto Blue Jays in a 6-2 triumph.
Rizzs greeted many of those 46,758 believers as he wound his way from the broadcast booth, through the club level and down some stairs to a perch above Royal Brougham Way. There, he marked the moment symbolically, raising the seven-foot, golden trident and plunging another victory placard into a slot on the ballpark facade.
Six wins down, five to go for a championship, just one for a pennant. The Mariners had never been to the edge of the World Series before Friday. Here they are.
“Now we’re so close, we’re oh-so-close to getting there,” said Rizzs, a Mariners broadcaster for 40 years. “And these fans feel it, the players know they can get there and that’s why you see all this excitement here. It’s been a long time in the making and they’re ready to grab it.”
Rick Rizzs revels in the Mariners’ success. (Tyler Kepner / The Athletic)
Suárez returned this summer in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who acquired him two years ago when the Mariners dumped his salary and strikeouts. They missed his power, the swing that produced four homers in a game this season and 49 overall. They missed his effervescence, the way he models his personal mantra: Good Vibes Only.
The problem was that Suárez hadn’t hit. He batted .189 for Seattle in the regular season and was 6-for-37 (.162) in October. All the vibes in the Puget Sound can’t make up for a poorly-timed slump.
“He said something midway through September in Kansas City, me and (hitting coach) Kevin Seitzer and him were talking,” said Ryan Rowland-Smith, a Mariners TV analyst and former pitcher. “And he said it felt like everything was exploding, like fastballs and sliders and everything. Like, he could see the ball OK, but everything was just taking off on him.
“And they were working every day trying to figure out that swing and trying to get it done. It sounded like he was pressing to find it — and this is a guy who’s hit 49 home runs — and that kind of carried over into the postseason.
“But that was huge, man. That was absolutely massive. Two strikes!”
The last comment was a telling observation. With two strikes this season, Suárez was about as helpless as a hitter could be: .130/.210/.277. But he started to feel better in Game 4, when he drove in a run-scoring single through the right side of the infield.
“Obviously, I’ve been grinding all postseason,” Suárez said. “Big hits like that, it gives you confidence and tells you that you’re close. And that hit right there, I (did) not try too much. Like I always say, I just try to put the ball in play. I got inside-out really well, and to use the whole field is my key right now. I just try not to just pull hard or put it in the air.
“If (you) use the whole field and lock in, you’ll be ready for something on the heart of the plate, be ready for something in my strike zone, and not let that fastball beat me. That was my mentality today, be ready for something there and be ready for the fastball.”
Suárez was ready for the first pitch he saw in Game 5, a fastball down the middle from Kevin Gausman. He crushed it to left for a homer. Seattle didn’t score again until the bottom of the eighth, when Cal Raleigh lifted a leadoff fly that wanted to scrape the roof, but touched down just over the left-field wall to tie the game, 2-2.
By then, the Mariners had been playing their game. Blown out for two nights here, the pitchers weaved through Friday traffic with clutch strikeouts and fortuitous double plays. Bryce Miller, Matt Brash and Bryan Woo kept things close enough for the comeback, and Raleigh said it was vital to take those small victories.
“Being able to minimize that damage and just stay in the fight in those innings and not give up that big hit was the difference-maker,” he said.
The difference-maker, that is, until Suárez stepped in against Seranthony Domínguez. Raleigh’s homer, off Brendon Little, had dazed the Blue Jays’ shaky bullpen. Little followed with two walks, then Domínguez hit a batter to load the bases.
Suárez fell behind, 1-2. He fouled a sweeper off the plate and took another in the dirt. Then came the heat, the kind Suarez had challenged himself to handle. He fouled off one fastball at 97.5 mph. He did not miss the next.
“The stretch, and again the 2-2 on the way to Geno, here she comes,” Rizzs said across the airwaves on KIRO 710 AM. “Swing and a fly ball, deep to right field! Lukes going back to the warning track! Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it is grand salami time! Eugenio Suárez with an opposite-field grand salami! Mariners now lead the Blue Jays, 6-2, Geno’s second home run of the ballgame! Five runs batted in for Eugenio Suárez! It’s the Mariners six, it’s the Blue Jays two, and the crowd is going crazy here at T-Mobile Park! Holy smokes, what a comeback here in the bottom of the eighth inning!”
Here’s the Rick Rizzs call of the Geno grand slam in the bottom of the 8th! Go M’s!!!! pic.twitter.com/PX2zcb9web
— Max Price (@MrMaxPrice) October 18, 2025
Another Friday, another histrionic Game 5. The stands shook as Suárez trotted, and he found his wife and daughters as he crossed the plate, making a heart with his hands before hugs and handshakes from teammates — and, of course, the raising of the trident. Pointed up.
It was the Mariners’ first postseason grand slam since the 1995 ALDS, when Edgar Martinez did it against the New York Yankees — also in the eighth inning of a tie game at home, with no outs and a 2-2 count. Dave Niehaus was at the microphone then, as he always was from the franchise’s first pitch in 1977. That was a rye-bread-and-mustard moment, too.
Since Niehaus’ death in 2010, Rizzs has used the same sandwich-styled call for every grand slam, a goofy and glorious tribute to his mentor. The Mariners’ ballpark sits at the corner of streets named for Niehaus and Martinez, now a coach filled with pride.
“They’re very close, and a great group of guys,” Martinez said. “It’s a joy just to be part of it.”
In the Mariners’ last ALCS, two dozen years ago, they lost the first two games at home to the Yankees. Lou Piniella, the feisty manager, vowed to return to Seattle, which meant winning at least two of three games in the Bronx. That did not happen, and a 116-win season ended bitterly.
The Mariners cannot clinch the pennant at the corner of Edgar & Dave. Their first two flops here dashed those hopes. If they play again in Seattle this year, it will be in the World Series. Like the hero of Game 5, they got back up just in time.
“I feel so grateful,” Suárez said. “God gave me the ability to do something good for this city, and the vibe is always going to be high. Even when you’re struggling, you’ve got to keep your good vibes because it’s a gift. Today our vibe was so high. We know what is in front of us, and we want to take it.”
