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 exhaling, 7-3 win over the Orioles on Thursday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, and it led to his best game of the year.

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 from Jordan Westburg 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 top of the sixth and in visible frustration, after Torgerson receded to the dugout.

But 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.