Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez homers, has 3 RBIs in WBC opener

The J-Rod Show is off to a roaring start at the World Baseball Classic.

Seattle Mariners star center fielder Julio Rodríguez homered and added a pair of run-scoring singles in the Dominican Republic’s 12-3 rout of Nicaragua in a Pool D opener on Friday night in Miami. Rodríguez finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs.

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Rodríguez hit a leadoff homer in the eighth inning off right-hander Osman Gutierrez, pulling an outside slider over the left-center-field fence at LoanDepot Park for a 393-foot solo shot that gave the Dominican Republic a 7-3 lead. It came in the same ballpark as Rodríguez’s first career home run back in 2022, when he hammered a 450-foot three-run blast to left-center field against the Miami Marlins.

Earlier in the night, Rodríguez grounded an RBI single up the middle in the third to tie the game at 3-3.

And later on, Rodríguez capped the Dominican Republic’s six-run eighth inning with an RBI single into left field that made it 12-3.

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