Mariners vs. Diamondbacks: Rojas gets his revenge, Kirby's back, and Haniger comes up huge

With a strong showing against the Diamondbacks, the Mariners climbed to the top spot in the AL West with another series win

Arizona Diamondbacks v Seattle Mariners
Arizona Diamondbacks v Seattle Mariners | Steph Chambers/GettyImages
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The Mariners were able to take two out of the three games against the scrappy Diamondbacks, putting them atop the AL West. It seems like things are finally starting to come together with bats beginning to heat up and the starting rotation living up to the pre-season hype.

Best Hitter: Josh Rojas

.200/.273/.800, 2 H, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

During the offseason, third base was the position that most fans were worried about. After a month of the regular season, both Luis Urías and Josh Rojas have been putting up strong numbers, but the latter is slowly making a strong case for the starting job. Arguably his best series so far, Rojas hit two home runs against his former team to bring his total for the season to three. The first home run was off of the first pitch the Mariners saw, a four-seam fastball by Zac Gallen.

Rojas is currently slashing .297/.366/.516 over his first 72 plate appearances of the season, continuing the upward trajectory he started after first arriving in Seattle. His plate discipline has been great this year with chase, whiff, and strikeout rates in the top quartile of qualified hitters. His launch angle has also been excellent with a 99th percentile sweet-spot rate of 49.0%. This is why despite having a below-average hard-hit rate and average exit velocity, he's been able to slug >.500.

Honorable Mention: Mitch Garver

.200/.200/.600, 2 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 4 K

Garver still hasn't quite thawed out all the way but his two extra base hits in this series could be signs that at the very least, his power is starting to come back. He's still striking out far too much and walking far too infrequently to lift his paltry season numbers of .143/.256/.273 but credit where credit is due for his performance in the three games against the Diamondbacks.

Schedule