Julio Rodriguez Stays Hot, Ties Ken Griffey Jr. in Seattle Mariners History
The Seattle Mariners suffered an 11-2 loss at the hands of the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the team's playoff chances.
With 11 games to play, Seattle is a respectable 77-74, but they are 5.0 games back in the American League West and 3.0 games back in the wild card.
Despite the loss, Tuesday represented another positive step forward for M's star Julio Rodriguez. He went 4-for-5 and tied Ken Griffey Jr. on an illustrious list in team history.
Per @MarinersPR after the game:
--Julio Rodríguez went 4-for-5 in the game…he has hit safely in 12 of 15 games during September.
--He has 3 multi-hit games in his last 4 (9/13-c).
--This was his 12th career 4-hit game, tying him with Ken Griffey Jr. for 2nd-most in Mariners history before turning 24 years old…he trails only Alex Rodriguez (14 G) for the franchise record.
It's been a difficult year for Rodriguez, who dealt with an extremely slow start, a serious ankle injury and a general power outage, but he's come on strong of late under the guidance of new hitting coach Edgar Martinez. And any time that you can link up with Griffey Jr. in team history, you've done something right.
The 23-year-old two-time All-Star is now hitting .268 with 16 homers, 54 RBI and 22 stolen bases. He's raised his OPS+ to 110 for the season. While it looks as if the M's are going to come up short this year, his resurgence can be huge for the organization if they are going to take another step forward next season.
The M's will take on the Yankees again on Tuesday night at 6:40 p.m. PT.
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