Before big home run, Julio Rodríguez won flip flops from Astros fan in bet

Julio Rodríguez was clearly locked in when he came up to the plate for the Seattle Mariners in the early innings Monday night in Houston.

Julio homers as M’s extend win streak vs. Astros to 8

On the first pitch Rodríguez saw from Astros starting pitcher Peter Lambert, he barely missed a home run, pulling the 92 mph cutter just on the wrong side of the foul pole in left field. Later in the at-bat, Rodríguez shot a sinking liner to the gap in right-center that Houston right fielder Cam Smith needed to go into a slide to catch.

In Rodríguez’s second at-bat, he found the right side of the foul pole, ripping an 0-2 fastball for a no-doubt, 414-foot solo blast that provided Seattle’s last run in its 3-1 series-opening victory.

Turns out Rodríguez was carrying over some momentum from an impressive batting practice session before the game – one where an unusual bet seemed to put him in a good spot to leave the yard when it counted.

With Baseball Hall of Famer and Mariners director of hitting strategy Edgar Martinez throwing BP on Monday, Rodríguez was challenged by a heckling Astros fan to hit a specific sign above the Crawford Boxes beyond left field at Daikin Park – one that serves as a Lexus advertisement.

Rodríguez and the fan agreed that if he hit the sign, the fan would lose his shoes – or to be more specific, flip flops – to the three-time All-Star. And as seen in the video below, Rodríguez indeed sent one right into that sign.

not the flip flops 😭

Julio made a deal with this Astros fan at batting practice 🤣 pic.twitter.com/6jiI10YcHQ

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 12, 2026

After the game, Mariners TV broadcaster Brad Adam asked Rodríguez about winning the pregame bet, and the star center fielder gave credit to his pitcher.

“Edgar just kinda threw a nice middle-in, a little up in the zone ball and I was able to hit it, like, dead square,” Rodríguez said. “I thought it was fun.”

As for the fate of the flip flops, Rodríguez made a new deal with fan, who had to walk up and down the stairs of the lower level of the seats behind home plate in order to get his footwear back.

“It was a little too small for me,” Rodríguez said of the sandals.

Mariners fans might want to consider thanking the Astros fan, because Rodríguez seemed to still be aiming for the same spot when he hit his homer in the third inning, which bounced off of the wall just a bit above and to the left of the Lexus sign.

Then again, Rodríguez seemed to be in a good spot even before getting to Houston. Over his last 28 games (including Monday), Rodríguez has a stellar .339/.388/.598 slash line for a .987 OPS with all seven of his homers and all eight of his doubles this season. In that stretch, he has 13 multi-hit games.

Rodríguez has put himself in a good spot to make a run at a fourth All-Star nomination in his fifth MLB season. He has a .277/.341/.452 slash and .793 OPS in 2026, and his 1.5 offensive bWAR currently ranks fifth among American League outfielders.

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