Seattle Mariners Outfielder Gets Day Off After Disappointing Performance
The Seattle Mariners had a five-game losing streak going into Sunday and had lost two straight series and three out of their last four.
On Saturday — the Mariners struck out 14 times. And two players accounted for more than half of them.
Dylan Moore (0-for-4) and Randy Arozarena (0-for-5) both earned the maligned golden sombrero. It was the second and third times in a week that a Seattle player has had such a performance at the plate. Arozarena was the second Mariner in the same stretch to go 0-for-5 and the fourth player in the league to have that performance this season. Julio Rodriguez went 0-for-5 in his first game back from a high-ankle sprain on Aug. 11 against the New York Mets.
Arozarena has played every single game possible for Seattle since being acquired in a trade from Tampa Bay Rays on Jul 26. He's played 19 games total for the Mariners and Saturday was his fourth consecutive game without a hit.
With the series already lost and the Los Angeles Dodgers coming up — Seattle manager Scott Servais gave the 2023 All-Star and 2020 American League Championship Series MVP a little bit of a breather for Sunday.
Arozarena was granted the day off by Servais and will miss his first game since coming over to the Pacific Northwest.
"Continues to be a struggle on this road trip, no question about it," Servais said in a postgame interview Saturday. "We're not playing good baseball. There's no way to sugarcoat it. ... There's no question (Randy needs a day off). He's been grinding through it. Obviously got off to a great start when we acquired him. It's been a struggle for him on this trip like a lot of our guys. But that's part of being a pro. You got to show up even when you're not feeling great, swing's not timed up or whatever."
Arozarena is batting .239 with a home run, five RBIs and has scored 14 times during his tenure with the Mariners.
Arozarena has made the playoffs every single year of his career since making his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019. For that streak to continue — Seattle will need Arozarena healthy and hitting for the last stretch of the season.
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