ANAHEIM -- Just as he was heating up, and in an all-telling play bidding to be a spark plug on the basepaths for Seattle’s scuffling offense, Julio Rodríguez was forced to exit the Mariners' 8-6 loss to the Angels on Saturday after being hit on the bone between his right foot and ankle on a 98.1 mph one-hopper while attempting to steal third base.
But X-rays that the Mariners center fielder underwent at Angel Stadium came back negative and he is day to day, with optimism that he could return as soon as Sunday’s series finale, when the Mariners will attempt to snap a season-worst, five-game losing streak.
“There's a high chance that I should be in the lineup,” Rodríguez said. "So just seeing how it reacts through the night and like how I wake up tomorrow. But I feel very positive that tomorrow will be a better day.”
The bang-bang play occurred in the top of the third inning, when Rodríguez had already swiped second and was looking for more, taking off for third as Randy Arozarena ripped a hot shot toward the left-side hole.
Had it gotten through and avoided Rodríguez, the speedster would’ve likely scored on the play.
But instead, Rodríguez was ruled out because he was in contact with the ball. Then he immediately limped to the Angels’ dugout railing on the third-base side and went down.
Rodríguez was met by Mariners manager Dan Wilson, vice president of high performance and medical Rob Scheidegger and assistant athletic trainer Kevin Orloski, the latter two of whom helped Rodríguez off the field.
“In the beginning, it was very painful,” Rodríguez said, “and I couldn't really feel my foot a whole lot or move it a whole lot -- and not even like walk properly. But after we kind of started treating it, everything started reacting better right away.”
He then underwent extensive treatment that he said mostly subsided swelling in the area.
“I can be out here and say, 'Yeah, it's frustrating,’ but in reality, I can't really control that,” Rodríguez said. “All I could control was taking a good jump and go for the base. The ball found me, and that was what the game had for me. When I was able to peek in, I looked up and I really couldn't see the ball until it really hit my foot.”
Rodríguez was replaced in center field to begin the bottom of the third inning by Leody Taveras, who misplayed a soft fly ball directly in front of him that put Zach Neto on second base. The play -- which would’ve necessitated Taveras cover 49 feet in 4.5 seconds -- had a 99% catch probability, per Statcast.
Neto then scored to make it a one-run game when first baseman Rowdy Tellez couldn’t handle catcher Cal Raleigh’s throw to first on a swinging bunt from Taylor Ward. Immediately after, Taveras was front-and-center for another play that led to a run -- this one tying the game at 4 -- when a deep fly ball from Chris Taylor bounced off his glove while he was leaping at the right-center-field wall.
“That's a tough situation,” Wilson said. “He comes off the bench there, and the ball finds him right away. But he has been so good for us, and he's run a lot of balls down out there, so just a tougher night for him.”
Those defensive lapses -- along with three homers surrendered by Luis Castillo -- proved to be the Mariners’ downfall, and they came less than 24 hours after Rodríguez made one of the their most remarkable defensive plays of the season, leaping over the center-field wall to take back a would-be homer from Taylor on Friday.
The 2023 Gold Glove Award finalist is putting together another standout season at the premium position, ranking in the 98th percentile in Statcast’s outs above average, with seven. He’s also in the 93rd percentile in arm value, 95th in arm strength and 95th in sprint speed.
But his bat has been on the rise of late, too.
Rodríguez was 2-for-2 on Saturday before being lifted, and he scored when Raleigh blasted his first of two homers in the first inning -- a sequence in which Rodríguez was off and running, attempting a steal before slowing once the ball cleared the fence.
Raleigh also homered with one out in the ninth, continuing his remarkable season that now has him with 26 for the year -- three more than second-place Shohei Ohtani and five more than third-place Aaron Judge, the National and American League MVPs last season, respectively.