Julio Rodriguez Did Something He Hasn't Done All Season in Mariners Win on Tuesday

After a couple of days off to rest his ailing quad, Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez was back in the lineup on Tuesday night as the M's beat the San Diego Padres 8-3. And not only was Rodriguez back, he was back.

Rodriguez looked like the Rodriguez of old, going 4-for-4 with a mammoth home run, a double and two singles. Though he missed out on a spot on the All-Star team this year, his swing looked like the All-Star swing of the last two seasons.

Furthermore, per Ben Ranieri of Sea Level, Rodriguez did something he hasn't done all season with his home run: Hit a breaking ball out.

That was Julio’s first home run on a breaking pitch in 2024. Had 13 last season

You can see the home run, which came on a 1-0 pitch, below:

This whole at-bat was huge for Rodriguez for a few different reasons. First, Rodriguez took an 0-0 fastball that was moving in on his hands. By laying off the pitch, he avoided getting himself out early in the at-bat as he has done several times this year. Furthermore, he was ahead in the count 1-0 and forced Adam Mazur to throw him a strike rather than being down 0-1 and allowing Mazur to dictate the at-bat.

Then, of course, he didn't miss his pitch when he got it, something else he has done repeatedly this year.

Rodriguez now has nine home runs on the season to go with eight doubles. He also has 32 RBI for the year.

The M's are 50-43 after the win. They'll play the Padres again at 3:40 PT on Wednesday.

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