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.
It’s 12-2 so I know it’s not fun.
— Seattle Mariners ON Tap (@MarinersONTap) July 30, 2024
BUT, it’s really nice to see Randy Arozarena be 2/3 today with his 1st Mariners home run.
367 feet but a really high one over the Green Monster. pic.twitter.com/sN5VkjEmNJ
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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