Things went from bad to worse for Julio Rodriguez in the Mariners series finale
Things went from bad to worse for this Mariners Superstar on Sunday. The Mariners and Julio Rodriguez figured out how to lose a game in another weird way.
Ouch. If the vibes surrounding the Seattle Mariners were bad entering Sunday's game against the Cubs, they are definitely worse now. The Mariners lost the game 3-2, losing their 4th out of 5 series so far this season. The offense has been completely inept, and they are not showing signs of turning that page quite yet.
Julio Rodriguez is off to a terrible start. Yes, he hit the first walk-off hit of his career earlier in the season, but that may be his only offensive highlight so far. He is hitting .186/.238/.203/.441 with an OPS+ of 34. 34! He has yet to leave the yard and only has one extra-base hit so far (which was a double in his first at-bat of the season).
Manager Scott Servais gave Julio the day off on Sunday, I only assume to get his mind right. He is not hurt, at least there have not been any reports of Julio being hurt. He just seems to be pressing at the moment. He has started off slow in each of his 3 seasons so far, so my alarm bell is not ringing quite yet.
Although he had the day off, Scott pinch-ran him in the bottom of the 9th inning. Down 3-2 with 2 outs, Cal Raleigh singled and Scott brought Julio in to run for him. Julio then proceeded to get picked off by Cubs Closer Adbert Alzolay. Are you kidding me?
Julio was originally called safe by the umpire, and Cubs Skipper Craig Counsell challenged the call, and the original call was overturned, and Julio was out, and the game was over. The Mariners found yet another disappointing way to lose a game, and the vibes are at an all-time low.
Look, Julio is still just 23 years old. We all know what he is capible of. We know his season will turn around. But this loss is super frustrating because he didn't give the next man up a chance. There was no guarentee that the Mariners would have won the game, in fact they probably would not have. But Julio's mistake really hurt.
As always, Go Mariners!