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Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez is set to undergo an MRI after an injury scare Saturday where he left in the first inning due to an issue with his quadriceps. The Mariners would go on to lose to the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4, where now the focus will be on the health and injury status of Rodriguez who is arguably the team's top player and who they rely on for a threat not just offensively, but defensively in center field.
More details were given by Seattle manager Scott Servais saying that Rodriguez did experience some discomfort in his right quadriceps area in warmups before Saturday's game where ultimately they decided to play through it. However, he would play just a half of the first inning before Servais decided to pull the plug saying “no, this isn't right” according to Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of The Seattle Times.
“He came in this morning and he felt fine,” Servais said. ” When he was out before the game and the guys are running sprints in the outfield, he just felt something in his right quad, lower quad area. It just tightened up and didn’t feel great. And he said, ‘I’ll give it a go.’ He went out for the first inning and after the first half inning just said, ‘No, this isn’t right.'”
Mariners want to tread lightly with Rodriguez who taken out of the game
This season, Rodriguez has been down compared to last year where he is currently at a .247 batting average, has eight home runs, and 30 runs batted in. Still at 23-years old, he is a cornerstone of the ball club that they do not want to rush out and cause further injury.
He has had a nice start to his career as he won Rookie of the Year in 2022 while also being an All-Star and then in 2023, he batted .275, hit 32 home runs to go along with 103 runs batted in, finishing fourth in voting for Most Valuable Player. There's no doubt that Servais “would love to have him in there” for the conclusion of the current series against the Blue Jays, but they can utilize the off day after to rest up Rodriguez and his quadriceps injury.
“I'm hoping it's nothing too serious. Day game tomorrow, would love to have him in there, but we'll see. We have an off day after that,” Servais said.
Rodriguez did not speak to the media in a press conference after the game about being taken out of the first inning, but there was an instance per The Seattle Times where he was asked if he was alright, where the star responded with “I should be.” In terms of how he got the issue with his quadriceps is a mystery as some were pointing to the foul ball that he took Friday off his knee, but the Mariners manager would say there is no correlation, even saying that he “felt fine” after that night.
“He felt fine last night leaving the ballpark and didn’t have any issues,” Servais said.
Rodriguez has “looked great the last couple of days”
He also had another minor injury with his thumb on Thursday when making a tough catch in center field, but once again, there is obviously no correlation. Still, that game could have been a turning point since he had a home run and a double, one of his better outings of the season, even sparking confidence of his skipper in Servais saying that “he's looked great,” but still had to take caution Saturday.
“I think he’s looked great the last couple of days,” Servais said. “He does have his timing down and you’re hoping as it heats up here, he heats up. The ball is carrying better now than it normally does here, but again, you’ve got to take care of your body. He did not feel great, didn’t feel good at all, obviously and that’s why he came out of the game.”
The Mariners had a frustrating game Saturday as the Blue Jays were up 5-0 going in to the bottom of the eighth inning. While Seattle would score four runs in the last two frames, it still was not enough to get a much needed win as Ty France was the player to replace Rodriguez, who could have been a huge bat in the clutch moments.
“You kind of have an idea going into a game how you're going to use your bench and whatnot and when one of your main guys comes out like that you have to pivot quickly and we did. We certainly were covered,” Servais said according to ESPN.
A frustrating outing for the Mariners leads to the pitching
In terms of their pitching, it was a middle of the road performance from Emerson Hancock who threw four innings, struck out four batters, walked one, had two earned runs, and allowed six hits. He threw 93 pitches in those four innings which is brutal as he spoke after the game about how Toronto “grinded through at-bats.”
“They drove the pitch count up and then I just remember getting through the fourth and kind of looking at how many pitches I was at,” Hancock said via The Seatte Times. “They kind of grinded through at-bats, but I didn’t do a good job of kind of putting them away when I got two strikes either.”
Still, the Mariners now head in to a rubber match against the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon where Servais is hoping to see a more complete game from his squad.
“We still have a chance to win the series tomorrow,” Servais said. “You’re looking to hopefully come out, and we just have to do more offensively, that’s just where it’s at early in the ballgames. I give our guys credit, they didn’t quit. We’re able to get some big hits there late to put pressure on them, but it’s going to take more than that.”
At any rate, the Mariners are still at the top of the American League West with a 49-42 record as the series finale against the Blue Jays is Sunday at 4:10 p.m. (EST) with the status of Rodriguez still up in the air.
