Seattle Mariners Move Josh Rojas Up in Lineup Against Baltimore Orioles
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners decided to make another lineup move ahead of Wednesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles and put third baseman Josh Rojas in the two-hole after he hit ninth on Tuesday.
Rojas went 2-for-2 for the Mariners on Tuesday — the only two hits for Seattle in the loss. Both were singles.
"Josh has hit in the top of the lineup for us before," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "He led off for us when (J.P. Crawford) was out for a while. ... That's all we're trying to, trying to group players together who can get on base and create opportunities and hopefully someone gets a big hit."
Rojas is batting .260 this season with four home runs, 13 doubles, two triples and 16 RBI.
Seattle has continued to shift and experiment with the lineup in an effort to get its offense going. Julio Rodriguez was moved down to seventh in the order before Tuesday's loss and was slotted for the same spot before Wednesday's game.
"The lineup right now is challenging some days," Servais said. "We're not at the point yet where we draw (names) out of a hat but we're kind of getting close to that. Maybe that's what I need to do."
The Mariners have had several offensive opportunities, including a couple on Tuesday, but they've failed to cash in lately as they've lost nine of their last 12 games.
Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh hit a ball that looked to be going over the right field wall that hooked foul in the ninth inning. That hit would have tied the game. Rodriguez had game-tying or walk-off opportunity in the final at-bat of Tuesday's game.
With nine days before the All-Star break, the Mariners are looking to find the best way to generate offense. The comment about pulling names out of a hat was in jest, but Servais and Seattle at this point will do as much tinkering as possible to find the best order before the second half of the season.
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