Seattle Mariners’ J.P. Crawford homers, celebrates by petting dog

If there’s one thing J.P. Crawford has shown during this Seattle Mariners season, it’s that he loves hitting home runs.

Seattle Mariners beat A’s 7-2, inch within 1/2 game of AL West lead

On Tuesday night, Crawford was able to enjoy the feeling of hitting a dinger for a career-high 16th time, adding an exclamation point in the ninth inning of Seattle’s 7-2 win over the Athletics.

But if there’s one thing we’ve known about Crawford for years now, it’s that he’s an animal lover off the field. To be more precise, he’s a big fan of huskies, as he owns a few himself.

Somehow, someway, those two things came together in Oakland.

Not long after Crawford drilled his homer on Tuesday night, cameras on the ROOT Sports Northwest TV broadcast found him in the photo well near the Mariners dugout. And he wasn’t alone.

That’s right. A husky was on the field during the game, and there was no way that dog was getting away without some pets from the Mariners shortstop.

Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith understood the situation – and the inevitability that Crawford would gravitate to the dog once he saw it.

“There’s a dog on the field, and it’s a husky,” Goldsmith said, with a maybe a hint of Ron Burgandy in his voice. “We’ve lost J.P. for the rest of the game. Scott, go to your bench. Nothing else matters right now. J.P. has found a husky in Oakland Coliseum.”

The Scott that Goldsmith referred to would be Mariners manager Scott Servais, and he was likely pretty understanding of Crawford’s departure from the dugout as he might be the biggest dog fan of any of the Mariners. Just last week, he and his wife Jill played a big role in organizing Pints for Paws, a fundraising event attended by several of the team’s dog owners at Queen Anne Beer Hall that benefited rescue organizations in eastern Washington. For more on that, read this article from MyNorthwest.

The Mariners will wrap up their three-game set against the A’s in Oakland at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday on Seattle Sports 710 AM and the Seattle Sports app. Coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. with the pregame show. For details on how to hear Mariners Radio Network broadcasts from Seattle Sports, click here.

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