Mariners ride power wave to series win over Twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- Given how sour this series started, it was all the more sweet how it ended. And with a much-needed off-day looming, the Mariners find themselves trending up ahead of Tuesday’s Trade Deadline.

Wednesday afternoon’s 8-7 win in the rubber game against the Twins was one in which Seattle hung on by its collective fingernails. It was a second straight slugfest following Tuesday’s 9-7 victory, but this one far steamier, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees.

There were ups, downs, twists and turns in a series that made Target Field feel like an amusement park the past three days. Seattle outscored a Minnesota offense that had been baseball’s best out of the All-Star break, with more hits (29 to 28) and runs (20 to 18) in a three-gamer that could have swung in either direction.

Julio Rodríguez stayed hot with his fourth homer in his past five games, Dylan Moore added on two more for his first career multi-homer game and Andrés Muñoz closed the door for his second save to strand the potential tying run at second base.

Those were the primary highlights, but Teoscar Hernández, Eugenio Suárez and Kolten Wong also contributed with run production on a day where the ball was flying. Beyond the three homers from Rodríguez and Moore, Minnesota went deep four times, all against Bryce Miller in an outing where even the Texan, who is used to these conditions, was feeling them late.

Rodríguez’s hot streak had been brewing the past few days, thanks to extensive work of late with hitting coach and director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart. Specifically, Rodríguez is keeping his lower half more quiet while seeing a correlation of getting out front of the ball more.

Doing so has drastically improved Rodríguez’s timing, he said, with Wednesday’s homer being a prime example. It was the first of his career in an 0-2 count after entering the finale a career 11-for-86 with 51 strikeouts after falling behind 0-2, including 2022.

“Just kind of staying committed to my approach and being ready to hit,” Rodríguez said. “Even if I’m in an 0-2 count, at the same time, being aggressive enough to where I'm going to recognize my pitch, get it out front and drive it when it’s in the zone.

Timing is the biggest component.

“You’ve got time to do all that, to make the right adjustments, to take the pitches that you don't want to swing at," Rodríguez said. "So I feel like everything is on the timing. If you want to hit the ball out front, you’ve got to be ready for it. If you want to recognize something earlier, you’ve got to be ready for it, too.

“So I feel like all those things are working pretty well.”

At his best, Rodríguez is Seattle’s best player, and in so many ways, its lineup produces as he does, in the highs and lows. But when the Mariners are collectively at their best, Moore is an integral cog -- Wednesday also being a prime example, with the utility man filling in for shortstop J.P. Crawford on a scheduled off-day that arrived after he was hit by a pitch on his right knee the previous game.

Moore is just 8-for-43 since being activated from the 10-day injured list on June 6, but half of those hits have been homers, which is why his slash line is so uniquely offbeat: .186/.286/.512 (.798 OPS).

Like Rodríguez, Moore has also benefited from recent adjustments, which are a constant component to his game as a primary bench player.

“They always help,” Moore said. “I mean, every time something goes wrong, or there's something I'm not feeling right, you make the adjustment and you go from there. There's usually small things -- not that I would call myself a veteran, but there's more things that I like to do and just some smaller things are more helpful.”

Travel days and rubber games have not been kind to the Mariners this season, as they entered play 7-14 and 4-8 in each, respectively, which made Wednesday’s win all the more rewarding. Seattle also advanced to 15-16-2 in series, including 6-9-1 on the road in 2023.

While this may be getting significantly too far ahead given the Mariners now sit four games out of the final American League Wild Card spot, if they were to secure that final postseason berth in the final 60 games and Minnesota holds on to first place in a shaky AL Central, this matchup and venue would be the first-round postseason destination.

Seattle’s playoff odds rose after the finale win to 16.8%, per FanGraphs.