'Like a brother to me': J-Rod, Randy's teammate relationship continues to grow

This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter, with MLB.com's Josh Kirshenbaum filling in for this edition. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

As Julio Rodríguez entered a jubilant Mariners dugout, trident in hand, after blasting his 100th career home run in the third inning of Seattle’s 5-4 win over Texas on Sunday, he tipped his helmet to the video camera in the well behind first base. As he did, Randy Arozarena ducked under his arm to pose with the 24-year-old star, holding up two fingers on one hand and a fist with the other, for Rodríguez’s 20th homer of the season.

Eight days prior, it was Rodríguez holding up the numbers for Arozarena, after Seattle’s left fielder reached 20 homers for the fifth consecutive season at Angel Stadium.

“Being able to give love to him and him giving it back, it’s very special to have a teammate like that,” Rodríguez said.

Rodríguez was on the injured list when Seattle traded for Arozarena ahead of the Trade Deadline last season, returning on Aug. 23. Since then, the duo has started next to each other in the outfield in 131 of the Mariners’ 147 games.

“We have become really, really tight friends, this year especially,” Rodríguez said. “I knew him before, before he got traded here. But this year, he’s like a brother to me out there.”

In that time, they’ve become one of the most productive pairs in baseball. Shortly after hitting his 20th home run, Arozarena swiped his 20th base for his fifth consecutive 20-20 season. Rodríguez’s homer Sunday gave him his fourth in a row -- making him the first player in MLB history to begin a career with four straight 20-20 campaigns.

That meant that heading into Monday’s off-day, there were two players in Seattle with 20-20 seasons, and two -- Cleveland’s José Ramirez and Chicago’s Pete Crow-Armstrong -- across the other 29 teams.

Arozarena and Rodríguez are the first Mariners duo to hit the threshold in the same year since Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. did so in 1999, and they’re the first pair of teammates to do so in their team’s first 113 games since Shawn Green and Jose Canseco did so for the Blue Jays in 1998.

Arozarena has been on a tear all summer, hitting .280 with a .912 OPS since June 1, and leads the league with 14 home runs since June 30. His next home run will be his 23rd, matching his career high in a season.

“What he’s done at the plate, especially lately, has been outstanding,” manager Dan Wilson said. “Using the whole field, driving the ball for power, we see him hit the ball on a line, we see him take his walks. He has really done a great job here.”

Rodríguez -- who has posted at least a .295 average and a .831 OPS after Aug. 1 in each of his first three seasons -- looks like he might have gotten a head-start on the late-summer surge, putting up an even 1.000 OPS since July 11 with nine homers in 20 games.

“It comes off his bat 110+ every time,” Wilson said. “When you can hit the ball on a line like that, you’re going to have good results. That’s when he’s going good, and that’s what we’ve seen.”