Browsing: RodrÃguez

That was the home playoff game Seattle was waiting for.

One day after their series-opening disappointment in extra innings, the Mariners faced a tall task: Beat the Tigers with Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal on the mound, or face an 0-2 ALDS hole as the series moved to Detroit. They chose the former in a 3-2 victory in Game 2, their first home playoff win in 24 years.

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Skubal looked as dominant as ever — except when he faced Mariners second baseman Jorge Polanco. The MLB veteran took the ace deep twice to give his team the lead.

Those homers would have been enough, had the Tigers not rallied in the eighth inning when a pair of mistakes — a walk and a Josh Naylor error — put two runners on base, and then both scored on a Spencer Torkelson double. That turn of events left T-Mobile Park quiet, at least until the bottom of the inning.

Franchise cornerstones Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez hit back-to-back doubles to put the Mariners back ahead in a classic postseason moment for the franchise.

That was the offensive side. On the mound, the Mariners sent out Luis Castillo, who took a no-hitter into the fifth inning but got pulled after his first base hit allowed. Andrés Muñoz closed out the ninth after recording six outs in Game 1. All told, the Seattle pitching staff allowed one earned run while striking out 10 and allowing three hits.

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The series now heads to Detroit, where Logan Gilbert and Jack Flaherty are on track to face off in Game 3 beginning at 4:08 p.m. ET Tuesday.

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SEATTLE — This place has been waiting to erupt for 24 long years, way back to when Julio Rodríguez was still in diapers in the Dominican Republic and eons away from his baseball journey that would bring him to the moment that Seattle has been starved for on Saturday night.

And the palpable anticipation was fittingly delivered by the player whoâ€s become a true showman of sports in this city.

Rodríguez emphatically put Seattle on the board with a 413-foot solo homer in the fourth inning that broke a scoreless tie in Game 1 of the American League Division Series vs. the Tigers. He then ripped a game-tying RBI single in the sixth that eventually pushed the game to extras, but the Mariners came up short in a 3-2 loss in the 11th.

“The fans were definitely really loud out there,†Rodríguez said. “They were bringing it. They were really bringing it.â€

The homer marked the Mariners†first run at T-Mobile Park in a postseason game since Game 2 of the AL Championship Series on Oct. 18, 2001 — when Rodríguezâ€s manager (Dan Wilson) was the teamâ€s catcher and his longtime mentor (Ichiro Suzuki) was that yearâ€s AL MVP.

Rodríguez — who was born on Dec. 29, 2000 — was not even 1 year old at the time. But such are the stakes for a player determined to turn the tides for a franchise whose unflattering playoff history over the past two decades has been rooted in their organizational fabric.

“The way I think about it is, just because we haven’t done it doesn’t mean that we can’t do it,†Rodríguez said recently, in the leadup to the playoffs. “I feel like that’s how I see it, and I feel like that’s at least for myself, and I just hope for the team, too, that we will bring that mentality. Just because somebody hasn’t done it doesn’t mean that we can’t do it.â€

The Mariners†most recent playoff contest in Seattle — the infamous 18-inning marathon in Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS — was a 1-0 loss to the Astros. And unfortunately for them, Saturdayâ€s game featured similar offensive shortcomings, as Rodríguez went 3-for-5 and drove in both of the Mariners†runs, but the rest of the lineup went a combined 3-for-33.

“Today is over,†Rodríguez said. “Gear up for tomorrow, get ready for the new game. Come with the same mentality, to come and attack and be ready to compete. Thatâ€s how weâ€ll bounce back from this; thatâ€s how weâ€ve done it in the past.â€

On Saturday, Rodríguez connected on a 2-2 fastball from Tigers starter Troy Melton — who was dynamite up to that point — and sent it just to the right of the batterâ€s eye beyond straightaway center, the type of landing spot that only elite right-handed hitters can reach, leaving his bat at 109.2 mph.

“That’s what we needed,†Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suárez said. “That was a big homer right there, and then we had the momentum.â€

The big blast came one week after Rodríguezâ€s most recent game action, when he achieved his second career 30/30 season upon stealing his 29th and 30th bases before resting in the regular-season finale. He finished the year with 32 homers, tied for his career high set in 2023.

Rodríguez earned his third career All-Star selection this season but opted not to go due to the need for a mental and physical reset. That decision, coincidentally, came in the Mariners†most recent meeting with the Tigers — a three-game sweep at Comerica Park from July 11-13.

It was that series that represented a turning point to his season, because he homered in all three games then put together one of the sportâ€s most productive stretches, leading MLB with 3.8 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, the rest of the way.

Rodríguez had hit 112 career homers entering these playoffs — but Saturdayâ€s was his first in the postseason. The Mariners could certainly use more of them if theyâ€re going to rebound and advance.

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