What They Said: Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez on 4-hit night, Seattle’s offense

Jul 10, 2024, 10:10 AM | Updated: 11:14 am

Seattle Sports

Tuesday night’s Seattle Mariners game was like a breath of fresh air for many people, and especially two-time All-Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez.

Watch: Mariners’ Cal Raleigh homers from both sides of the plate

For the 10th time in his three-year MLB career but just the second time this season, Rodríguez had a four-hit game (see the video above) to help the AL West-leading Mariners take the first game of a quick two-game series at San Diego 8-3 over the Padres. Even better, he homered and doubled in the victory, marking just the fourth time this season he had multiple hits for extra bases in the same game – but also the second time he did so in his last five contests.

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Seattle’s struggling offense had a big night as a whole, too, rapping out 13 hits and scoring at least one run in all but three innings.

Right after the game, Mariners insider Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports caught up with Rodríguez on the field at Petco Park for a walk-off interview on the radio broadcast. Listen to what he had to say in the podcast at this link or in the player below, and after that we have a transcription of the entire conversation, which included thoughts on his performance, the state of the Mariners’ offense, and his reaction to relief pitcher Gregory Santos’ scoreless ninth inning in his M’s debut.

Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez after win in San Diego

• Thoughts on Gregory Santos’ first Mariners outing:

“I mean, well, we all knew (what) he got. He’s got unbelievable pitches, that sinker and slider, and I was just really happy for him and gave him a hug because I know he’s been working really hard to get back on the field to compete for us. … I was happy to see him out there, so he deserved to be back.”

Gregory is fired up 🔥

He closes it out in his debut with the squad! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/RNhcivgAk5

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 10, 2024

• What Rodríguez liked from the Mariners’ night on offense:

“We were all fighting out there. Fighting out there. I feel like that’s something that really helped us and that’s something that we showed out there. We’re really fighting every every single at-bat.”

• Why did that come out Tuesday night?

“I mean, if I were to say, I feel like everybody’s tired – I feel like everybody’s tired of, like, I guess, I don’t know, the things that we were doing. I feel like at some point it has to end, so we went out there, compete, be free, and that’s what we did today.”

• Is that what you were doing, being free out there at the plate?

“Yeah, just play like the kid from Loma de Cabrera.”

• How do you do that?

“Just going out there and compete. Just like kind of how I got here, and that’s what I do every single time. Just compete, and compete every single day and compete again.”

• What did you like the most about your at-bats Tuesday night?

“I didn’t give anything away. You know, I didn’t give anything away. I felt like I was on it the whole time, and I feel like that identifies me. I go out there and compete every single pitch and yeah, I was able to get good results because of that.”

• On All-Star pitcher Logan Gilbert’s start:

“Unbelievable. I mean, that’s why he’s an All-Star. You know, that’s why he’s an All-Star. He’s been doing it the whole year, and today it was like a little reminder, like, ‘Yeah, I got that. That’s what I got.'”