J-Rod's homer leads Mariners' 16-hit outburst

ANAHEIM -- When Jerry Dipoto took to the airwaves for his weekly radio hit on Thursday, the Mariners’ president of baseball operations did so in his typically transparent fashion.

Only this edition was more introspective on the blunt negatives of where Seattle stands in a season that’s consistently featured one step forward and one back, particularly after another overwhelming loss on this three-city road trip.

“Struggling madly is probably the easiest way to put it in virtually all facets of the game,” Dipoto told 710 Seattle Sports. “You see a bit of life in Tuesday’s game against San Diego and we give the life back on Wednesday. That’s kind of been the rut we’ve been stuck in for some time now.”

After two days at Angel Stadium and a 6-2 win on Saturday night, the Mariners have been much more competitive. Just as it has been significantly too early to say that the club’s postseason ambitions are in peril, it’d be equally imprudent to say that they’ve completely turned a corner.

Yet, Seattle showed a much better offensive approach in a losing effort on Friday, but didn’t let that frustrating defeat sting with production from top to bottom on Saturday.

Those efforts, along with a big rebound from rookie starting pitcher Bryan Woo and critical leverage moments from the bullpen -- especially an eight-pitch strikeout from Gabe Speier to Shohei Ohtani to end the fifth -- has the club on the cusp of flipping the trajectory of the 1-5 start to this road trip with a series win and returning home at .500.

Julio Rodríguez demolished a two-run homer. Eugenio Suárez had his first three-hit night since April 8. J.P. Crawford one-upped him with a season-high four hits. The Mariners had baserunners on in every inning except the fifth. They ripped a season-high 16 hits. And they played comfortably ahead all night long.

“I feel like tonight was a lot better for everybody, just because it’s going to raise the confidence of us as a team,” Rodríguez said. “It just showed the type of baseball that we can actually play. As I always say, baseball is a tough sport and we’re always going to face challenges. But being able to flip the page and just keep being who we are and showing up every day, I feel like that’s the key for us.”

It starts with Rodríguez -- because if the Mariners are going to reach October in consecutive years, they’ll need more nights from him like Saturday, when he went 3-for-5 and beyond the homer ripped two singles to right, at 100 and 104.3 mph. No, he didn’t drive in a run or come around to score on either, but it was a more disciplined approach that stood out.

Rodríguez has been susceptible to swinging for a five-run homer with nobody on base when quality contact up the middle will suffice, a tactic that’s become exacerbated as pitchers are being much stingier with him following his epic 2022.

“It's really important because I’ve been missing some of those in the middle, and I feel like that kind of prolongs the at-bat and you kind of let the pitcher get away with something,” Rodríguez said. “So, being able to get those in and drive some runs for the team is definitely key.”

Rodríguez has been an encapsulation of the Mariners’ collective struggles to this point because in so many ways, they go as he does.

On Friday, Rodríguez struck out looking on a fastball right down the middle in his final at-bat, completely frozen -- albeit on a 99 mph heater -- with the tying run on second base in the ninth. On Saturday, he fell into a 2-2 count against Patrick Sandoval then went hunting for the lefty’s best pitch, the changeup, which he demolished 421 feet and sent Seattle off and running.

“When he stays locked in, again, good signs tonight,” manager Scott Servais said. “He gets down in the count early with the first knock, goes to right field with it not trying to do too much. And then you get the changeup later and he catches it out front and it goes over the fence. Julio's got that kind of ability.

“Again, he's just got to really stay focused on what the plan is and the approach is every day -- and when he does that, he's as good as anybody in the league.”

Has the season turned? Hardly. Has this weekend represented marginal promise? Undoubtedly. And it in so many ways starts with their best player.