CLEVELAND – Julio Rodríguez wasn’t going to let the baseball beat him to the bag. He couldn’t make the third out of the inning and strand J.P. Crawford at third and Cole Young at second base.
He exploded from the batter’s box as his soft ground ball off the end of the bat bounced slowly up the middle and was gloved just behind the second -base bag by Cleveland second baseman Daniel Schneemann. Already one of the fastest runners in Major League Baseball, he ate up the ground with each step down the basepath, while seeming to find a little more speed as the first base bag neared.
Meanwhile, Young, who was on second, was running on contact with two outs. And third -base coach Kristopher Negron made sure the rookie didn’t think of stopping at third.
Unlike similar situations, Rodriguez didn’t start signaling safe until after he touched first base.
As first -base umpire Tyler Jones emphatically signaled safe just after Rodríguez’s foot seemed to hit the bag just as the ball hit the glove of Cleveland first baseman Kyle Manzardo, Young was 20 feet from home.
The Mariners had just scored two runs on a ball that never left the infield. The effort from two of the youngest players on the roster proved to be the difference in Seattle’s 4-2 victory over the Guardians.
“Those two runs are everything,” manager Dan Wilson said of the hustle of Rodriguez and Young. “It was just a little thing, but it made a big difference in the ball game.”
When you are struggling to win games on the road, extra effort isn’t an option. It’s a requirement.
“As soon as I hit it, I was like, ‘I gotta get there,’ ” Rodriguez said. “The more you do all those little things right, the more they’re gonna stack up.”
The little things have been missing in many of the Mariners’ games away from T-Mobile Park, particularly post All-Star break. They snapped a seven-game road losing streak and avoided being swept by the Guardians in the three-game series.
Rodriguez’s hustle and Young’s head-up baserunning wasn’t immediately rewarded. As the Mariners celebrated, the Guardians challenged the call on the field. After more than three minutes of reviewing the play at MLB headquarters, crew chief Mark Wegner announced that the call on the field “stands,” which denotes that there wasn’t enough video evidence to uphold it or overturn it.
“I felt like I got there first, but once you see the replay, it was a really, really close,” he said. “But I got called safe and we won.”
The Mariners got Bryce Miller’s best start in what has been an injury-shortened season. The right-hander tossed a season-high six innings, allowing two runs on two hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
The two runs allowed came on Schneemann’s two-run homer in the third inning.
After getting the leadoff hitter on base in three of the first four innings against Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee, but failing to score a run, the Mariners finally broke through in the fifth inning.
Crawford led off with a single and Randy Arozarena crushed his two-run home run to left to tie the game.
The Mariners bullpen was lights out. Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz each worked 1-2-3 innings.
Who’s Hot
Julio Rodríguez has been the Mariners’ most productive hitter since the All-St ar break, hitting .289 with 11 homers, seven doubles, an .876 OPS and a 146 wRC+ (100 is average). Julio and Randy Arozarena entered the weekend with 25 homers and 24 steals, looking to become the first Mariners teammates to post 25 homers and 25 steals in the same season. What’s more, Cal Raleigh (88 runs) and Julio (87) rank second and third in the American League in runs scored, on pace to become the first M’s teammates to score 100 runs in the same season since Ichiro and Raúl Ibañez in 2006.
Who’s Not
Mariners reliever Matt Brash is 0-2 with two saves in August, having allowed 12 hits and five earned runs over 11.1 innings (3.97 ERA), with a 17-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In his first season back from Tommy John surgery, Brash has a 1.91 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP, both career lows, in 43 appearances this year.
Prospect Watch
It’s been an encouraging pro debut at Low-A Modesto for catcher Luke Stevenson, the Mariners’ second selection (No. 35 overall) in the MLB draft this summer. A 21-year-old left-handed hitter out of the University of North Carolina, Stevenson reached base safely in all 14 of his starts for Modesto, hitting .260 with a .430 on-base percentage and a .380 slugging percentage (.811 OPS). He had more walks (15) than strikeouts (13).
Ex-Mariner of the Week
Dylan Moore, released by the Mariners last weekend, had his contract selected by the Texas Rangers on Friday and made his first start (at first base) for the Mariners’ division rival on Friday night, going 1 for 2 with an RBI in the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Athletics. Moore moved to second base late in the game after another ex-Mariner, Rowdy Tellez, entered the game as a pinch-hitter.