J-Rod comes alive in much-needed Fourth of July breakout

SEATTLE -- The joy that he plays with is what propelled his path to the Majors at just 21 years old on his way to becoming one of the young faces of the game. But in the midst of arguably the worst stretch of his young career, maybe a fiery edge is precisely what Julio Rodríguez needs.

Seattle’s struggling star emptied the emotional tank in an exhilarating, 7-3 win over the Orioles on Thursday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, and it led to his best game of the year.

"Sometimes, you've got to go through tough stretches to wake the hell up,” Rodríguez said.

He put the Mariners on the board with a Statcast-projected 428-foot solo homer while they were trailing in the fifth, then he sparked their tiebreaking five-run rally in the seventh with a leadoff double that left his bat at 113 mph, easily his hardest-hit knock of the season, including homers.

In between, Rodríguez jammed his right thumb when making a catch on a sky-high flyball in the sixth, which was painful enough to prompt a lengthy visit in center field from Mariners manager Scott Servais and head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson. Rodríguez was seen shaking his hand throughout the frame and in visible frustration, after Torgerson receded to the dugout.

“Obviously, you always get scared,” Rodríguez said of a possible injury. “But after I moved around a little bit, [the pain] went away.”

Yet, if it wasn’t the double that quashed concerns over the health of his thumb, it was his 18th steal of the year that came immediately after, which he secured with a rare headfirst slide into third base. As he rose from the dirt, Rodríguez screamed towards the home dugout all the way on the first-base line and emphatically slapped his hands together.

“It was contagious,” said J.P. Crawford, who ripped a go-ahead, bases-clearing double moments later. “It got me going for sure. I think it got the whole team going. He fired everyone up.”

Rodríguez has shown this type of emotion before, but it was lively in what’s been a trying season.

“I just feel like a lot of people misunderstand my edge with how I play the game,” Rodríguez said. “With joy, whatever. I feel I just go out there and give everything. I feel like that's my playing style. And a lot of people might be mistaken, but sometimes you've got to remind them.”

Thursday marked just Rodríguez’s third game this year with multiple extra-base hits, along with April 17 against Cincinnati (two doubles) and on May 12 vs. Oakland (when he doubled and homered). His lack of power has been well-chronicled, which prompted an extended visit this homestand with his personal hitting coach, Osvaldo Diaz, whom he’s consulted since he was a prospect, and extensive early work.

Diaz outlined in passing what even casual observers have witnessed -- that Rodríguez has lacked balance when getting his ‘A’ swing off, which in turn has led to timing issues. Mechanically, Rodríguez has regularly tripped over himself toward the plate in those moments. Mentally, he’s resurfaced tendencies to try and swing his way out of it.

Diaz, who was invited to Seattle this week by Mariners director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart, said that he and Rodríguez are, “trying to get into his legs more,” because, “there are too many moving parts.”

Thursday’s massive homer showed that maybe Rodríguez has found something, as it was arguably his cleanest swing of the year. He adamantly will not talk about it, though, perhaps through a sensitivity given his early-season struggles or a protective incentive not to give away secrets.

"If I start crying or complaining or beating myself up for what's happened, I'm not going to take full advantage of the moment I have now,” Rodríguez said. “So that's just what I went out there and did today ... just going out there, and competing my [butt] off."

Rodríguez’s 162-point dip in slugging percentage, to .323 entering Thursday, was tied for MLB’s seventh-largest drop from last year among 173 qualified hitters. For context, he slugged .509 in 2022, when he won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Thursday’s double was his first since June 9 and second since May 12.

“We ask a lot of him,” Servais said. “And I just want him to be him. He doesn't have to carry the team. It's OK to show emotion. It's OK to get pissed off when you don't have a good game and things like that. That's normal. And hopefully today will lighten things up for him.”