Trea Turner reaches milestone, Bryce Harper hits two homers as Phillies win series opener vs. Mariners

Turner finished a triple short of hitting for the cycle while Harper homered in back-to-back innings with his two longest blasts of the season. The Phillies finished with a season-high 21 hits.

Trea Turner's 1,500th hit came on a three-run home run in the second inning, his first homer at Citizens Bank Park this season.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Lochlahn March

Published Aug. 18, 2025, 9:59 p.m. ET

On Sunday afternoon against the Washington Nationals, Trea Turner hit an infield ground ball, and the Phillies jumped into action to retrieve the ball.

His two hits earlier in the day brought him to 1,499 in his career, putting him on the brink of personal history. For a moment, the Phillies believed his grounder — deflected by pitcher Orlando Ribalta — had given him the milestone.

It was officially ruled an error, although Turner appealed the scoring decision to the league, and his journey to 1,500 career hits was extended another day.

When he did finally reach it, he made sure there wasn’t any doubt. Turner crushed a three-run homer to the left field seats in the second inning against the Seattle Mariners on Monday. He took a moment to exhale as he passed first base.

Not only was it a milestone hit, but it was also his first home run of the year at Citizens Bank Park. Turner’s first 12 homers of the season came on the road, and he was relieved to buck the trend at last.

“It’s been a minute,” Turner said. “Right now, I don’t trust anything. If I hit a ball good, I don’t trust it until it goes over that wall.”

Once it did, the hits kept coming, for Turner and the rest of the Phillies. The team recorded a season-high 21 hits. Turner had four of them as the Phillies steamrolled past the Mariners to a 12-7 win.

Turner’s father told him after the game that he had passed Buster Posey, who had amassed 1,500 career hits with the San Francisco Giants.

“He had such a great career and was such a good player for a long time,” Turner said, “and to be right next to guys like him, I think that’s pretty cool.”

All nine starters recorded at least one hit by the end of a six-run second inning. Turner finished a triple shy of the cycle, and Bryce Harper clubbed his two longest home runs of the season: a 440-foot solo blast in the sixth inning, and a 448-foot two-run shot in the seventh.

“I think the last 30 games have been really good power, been hitting the best I can,” Harper said. “ … Big night for the whole offense.”

The offense backed up a rebound performance from starter Ranger Suárez, who held the Mariners to two earned runs over 6⅔ innings. He silenced major league home run leader Cal Raleigh, who finished 0-for-5 on the night.

“Ranger was big tonight,” said manager Rob Thomson. “His command was impeccable. Ahead in the count, strike percentage, had his curveball tonight, fastball in and out. He was really good.”

In Suárez’s last start in Cincinnati, he allowed a season-high 10 hits and had diminished command. On Monday, he struck out 10 and walked zero batters.

The velocity on all of Suárez’s pitches ticked up. He said he especially tried to throw his cutter harder, and it averaged 1.4 mph faster than normal.

“I think that more velo on my breaking stuff makes it better,” said Suárez, who got six swings-and-misses on his curveball.

He kept the Mariners off the scoreboard until the seventh inning, when Mitch Garver got a hold of a full-count cutter and sent it over the center field wall. Suárez then hit Dominic Canzone with a pitch, and was replaced by Jordan Romano.

Romano faced the bottom of the order, tasked with getting one out. But he gave up a bloop single that dropped into shallow left field, before serving up a slider to nine-hole hitter Cole Young, who capitalized with a three-run home run to cut the Phillies’ lead to 7-4.

The offense responded right away in the bottom of the inning. Max Kepler started the rally with a single. Turner doubled, and came home on a Kyle Schwarber single, before Harper hit his biggest blast of the season so far.

Nolan Hoffman, recalled earlier on Monday to give the Phillies a fresh arm in the bullpen, made his major league debut in the ninth. He allowed three runs on three hits and a walk, but struck out Raleigh swinging to end the game.

Turner said the team has still been processing the news about Zack Wheeler, who underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot on Monday. Without their ace, the other stars know they need to step up.

“When you lose a player of that caliber, it’s definitely going to hurt a little bit and feel it a little bit in here,” Turner said. “But I think it’s a good clubhouse, we don’t have to rely on one person. We can all step up a little bit. We can all play a little better defense. We all pitch a little better. We can all hit a little better, and play as a team.

“And I think if we all pick up a little bit of slack, I think we can get the job done. But we’re going to miss him.”