Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez, Jesse Winker return from injury to full OF

The Mariners’ brief dalliance of three infielders making up the whole outfield is hopefully over. Both center fielder Julio Rodríguez and left fielder Jesse Winker are written into the lineup for Tuesday’s 7:10 p.m. game against the Texas Rangers on Seattle Sports.

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And that’s not all – Kyle Lewis is set to get the start in right field Tuesday, meaning Seattle plans to have an outfield made up entirely of outfielders for the contest after having to run Adam Frazier, Dylan Moore and Sam Haggerty out there together in their two most recent games.

This would be Rodríguez’s return after missing the first four games after the All-Star break with a sore left wrist. He initially suffered the injury on July 17 at Texas, jamming his wrist on an attempted steal of second base. He remained in that game and went on to compete in the MLB Home Run Derby and All-Star Game over the next two days, but was a very late scratch from the lineup Friday before the Mariners’ series opener against the Houston Astros.

On Tuesday’s edition of The Scott Servais Show on Seattle Sports (listen here), the Mariners manager said Rodríguez was penciled into the night’s lineup but would need to get through pregame work OK to remain in it.

Yes the lineup is out, however Scott Servais did say on @SeattleSports that “we will see how he feels coming out of batting practice. I have my fingers crossed we can keep him in there.”

— Mike Lefko (@MikeLefko) July 26, 2022

As for Winker, he suffered a sprained ankle Sunday after he collided with Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña. Though he initially stayed in the game, he was lifted after one more plate appearance and was given Monday night off to further rest the injury.

On the mound, the Mariners will start rookie George Kirby, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday afternoon. The Mariners optioned rookie reliever Matt Brash to the Rainiers in a corresponding move. Kirby, 24, was sent down just prior to the All-Star break as a measure to conserve his innings.

With Rodríguez back, he returns to the leadoff spot, with shortstop J.P. Crawford moving down to seventh in the order after filling in atop the lineup. Carlos Santana hits third as the designated hitter in front of cleanup man Eugenio Suárez, Winker is at No. 5, and Lewis follows at 6. This will be Lewis’ second game in the outfield for the M’s this season.

Coverage of the game starts at 6 p.m. on Seattle Sports Station 710 AM, SeattleSports.com and the Seattle Sports app with the pregame show. Mariners games can be streamed online or on the app from Seattle Sports by anyone located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia or Alaska. For details on how to stream M’s broadcasts based on your location, click here.

Here is the full M’s lineup:

todays_lineup.jpg pic.twitter.com/4iZ1z5X6Lp

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 26, 2022

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