BREAKING: Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez Back in Lineup Tuesday
After missing two games with quad tightness, Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez is back in the lineup on Tuesday night for game one of a two-game series against the San Diego Padres.
Our All-Star on the hill 🌟 #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/2DV9iRGePg
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 9, 2024
Rodriguez will be hitting cleanup and playing center field behind starting pitcher Logan Gilbert. With his leg issues hopefully behind him, the hope is that Rodriguez can finally start to gain some consistent traction at the plate. It's been a terribly frustrating year for Rodriguez, who has just eight home runs and failed to make the All-Star Game for the first time in his career. He's hitting just .247 and is running a strikeout rate of nearly 27 percent.
If the M's are going to hold onto win the American League West this year, they'll need Rodriguez to get going. When he's right, he's an MVP-caliber player that is capable of leading a lineup, but when he's scuffling, the lineup doesn't have many answers to turn to. Seattle needs more out of Cal Raleigh, Luke Raley and JP Crawford, but the situation starts with Rodriguez, who is a two-time Silver Slugger in his young career.
The Mariners enter play on Tuesday at 49-43 and with a 2.0 game lead in the division. They'll take on the Padres at Petco Park with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. PT. All-Star Logan Gilbert will pitch for Seattle against right-hander Adam Mazur.
Gilbert is 5-5 on the year with a 2.91 ERA. This will be his first All-Star appearance. Mazur is 1-2 on the year.
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