Mariners Game Notes — September 4 at Cincinnati

AS YOU MAY KNOW…Julio Rodríguez is closing in on his 2nd-consecutive 25 HR/25 SB season, having hit 24 home runs and stolen 36 bases so far this season after hitting 28 home runs and stealing 25 bases last season, but…DID YOU KNOW?…that with his next home run, he will become the first player in MLB history to hit 25 homers and steal 25 bases in each of his first two Major League seasons? only 8 other players have managed a 25 HR/25 SB seasons in one of their first 2 MLB seasons…if Julio reaches the 25 home run, 40 stolen base mark this season, he will become just the 3rd player in MLB history to do so in his age-22 season or younger, joining 22-year-old Alex Rodriguez-SEA (42 HR, 46 SB in 1998) and 20-year-old César Cedeño-HOU (25 HR, 56 SB in 1973).

TODAY’S TILT…the Mariners continue the 10-game road trip today with the first of 3 against the Cincinnati Reds…the Mariners are coming off a series loss at the New York Mets (1–2)…Seattle will also travel to Tampa Bay (4 G, 9/7–10) on the road trip…today’s series opener will air live on ROOT SPORTS with Aaron Goldsmith and Mariners Hall of Famer Dan Wilson on the call…the game will also be broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) and Mariners.com with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims on the call.

ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners dropped yesterday’s rubber game against the New York Mets by a 6–3 score, their first series loss since Aug. 11–13 vs. Baltimore…despite the loss, the Mariners are 14–4 over their last 18 games, 22–7 over their last 29, 24–8 over their last 32, 27–9 over their last 36, 30–11 over their last 41 and 39–17 over their last 56 games…the Mariners are 60–20 when scoring at least 4 runs and 17–39 when scoring 3-or-fewer…the Mariners are 39–29 at T-Mobile Park and 38–30 on the road this season…they are 26–22 in day games and 51–37 at night.

• It’s Still Series-ly Impressive — The Mariners have won 11 of their last 13 series and hold a 14–3–1 series record over their last 18 series…the Mariners haven’t dropped back-to-back series since late June, when they dropped series at Baltimore (June 23–25) and vs. Washington (June 26–28).
• All Streaks Must End — Julio Rodríguez had his career-high 15-game hitting streak snapped in yesterday’s game…he hit .493 (35x71) with a 1.357 OPS during the streak (8/13–9/2)…the Mariners streak of winning or losing by 2-or-fewer runs was snapped at 40 games in yesterday’s 3-run loss to the Mets…the Mariners 40-game streak (7/20–9/3) is the 6th-longest in MLB history.
• Restart Your Engines — Mike Ford is batting .263 (10x38) with 3 home runs and 5 RBI, a .404 on base percentage and slugging .526 (.930 OPS) over his last 14 games (8/14-c).
• Elevator Pitch on Pitching — The Mariners pitching staff leads the Majors in ERA (3.67), FIP (3.74), BB/9 (2.47), SO/BB (3.68), WHIP (1.17) and first-pitch strike percentage (64.3%).

AWARD SEASON…last night, Julio Rodríguez was named August AL Player of the Month, while Andrés Muñoz took home AL Reliever of the Month honors, becoming just the second set of Mariners teammates to take home MLB monthly awards in the same month, joining James Paxton (Pitcher of the Month) and Edwin Díaz (Reliever of the Month) in July 2017…Julio is the 7th different Player of the Month winner in franchise history and it marks the 12th time a Mariners player has won the award, first since Nelson Cruz in April 2015…Muñoz joins Díaz (5 times) as the only Mariners to take home Reliever of the Month honors since the inception of the award in 2017.

JULIO RODRÍGUEZ: REIGNING AL PLAYER OF THE MONTH…in the month of August, Julio Rodríguez hit .429 (45x105) with 19 runs, 10 doubles, 7 home runs, 30 RBI and 11 stolen bases, getting on base at a .474 clip and slugging .724 (1.198 OPS)…Julio led qualified AL players in August in hits, doubles, RBI, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and total bases (76)…he recorded 13 multi-hit games during the month, 6 games with 3+ hits and 5 games with 4+ hits.

• Since July 1 — Julio has been one of the best hitters in the Majors since July 1, batting .353 (79x224) with 36 runs, 18 doubles, 1 triple, 11 home runs, 46 RBI and 18 stolen bases, getting on base at a .403 clip and slugging .589 (.992 OPS)…during that span, he ranks among the Major League leaders in average (4th), OBP (T-9th), OPS (8th), extra-base hits (T-4th, 30), wRC+ (175, 6th) and fWAR (2nd, 3.5).
• Exclusive Club — Julio has 11.3 bWAR over his first 2 Major League seasons, tied for the 12th-most over a players first 2 seasons in Major League history…since 1969, J-Rod trails only Kris Bryant-CHC (12.6), Albert Pujols-STL (12.1), Evan Longoria-TB (11.9), Carlos Correa-HOU (11.8) and Wade Boggs-BOS (11.7).

ANDRÉS MUÑOZ: REIGNING AL RELIEVER OF THE MONTH…in 14 August appearances, Andrés Muñoz had 9 saves and a 1.93 ERA (3 ER, 14.0 IP) with 7 walks and 20 strikeouts…Muñoz led AL relievers during the month in saves (9) and was tied for the lead in fWAR (0.6) with Trevor Stephan-CLE.

BEST IN THE LAND SINCE JULY 1…the Mariners are 39–17 (.696) over their last 56 games (7/1-c), best record in the Majors during that span…since July 1, the Mariners offense leads the American League with an .813 OPS and ranking 4th in the Majors…the Mariners offense also leads the AL in on-base percentage (.348) during that span…Seattle pitchers have allowed the fewest runs (201) and have posted the lowest ERA (3.28) in the Majors during that span.

OUR SHORTSTOP…J.P. Crawford is batting .270 (116x429) with 80 runs, 28 doubles, 14 home runs and 46 RBI, getting on base at a .388 clip and slugging .434 (.822 OPS) in 119 games this season…since June 10, Crawford is batting .302 (68x225) with 48 runs, 17 doubles, 11 home runs and 24 RBI, getting on base at a .428 clip and slugging .524 (.953 OPS)…among Major League shortstops this season, Crawford ranks 6th in fWAR (3.7), 2nd in wRC (135), 2nd in OBP, 6th in average and 3rd in OPS…Crawford’s .828 OPS this season is over .100 points higher than his previous career high (.715 OPS in 2021).

TEOSCAR-WORTHY PERFORMANCE…Teoscar Hernández extended his hitting streak to 12 games (8/21-c) yesterday and is 3 games shy of his career-best 15-game streak with Toronto in 2020…during the active streak, he is batting .380 with 2 doubles, 6 home runs, 18 RBI and a 1.176 OPS…over his last 32 games since July 29, Teo is batting .357 (46x129) with 16 runs, 10 doubles, 8 home runs and 26 RBI, getting on base at a .380 clip and slugging .620 (1.000 OPS).

MAMA MIA…Dominic Canzone went 2-for-4 with a 2-run home run in yesterday’s game, his 2nd-consecutive game with a home run…over his last 21 games (8/8-c), Canzone is batting .278 (20x72) with 13 runs, 6 doubles, 4 home runs and 7 RBI, getting on base at a .316 clip and slugging .528 (.844 OPS)…he has reached base safely in 17 of 21 during that span, hitting safely in 14 of those games, while striking out at just a 13.2% rate.