Julio Rodriguez a late scratch from M’s lineup with sore foot as Seattle falls 3-1 to Oakland

SEATTLE – Mariners star center fielder Julio Rodriguez, in the midst of one of the hottest-hitting stretches in MLB history, was scratched from the lineup just minutes before the start of the game Tuesday against Oakland because of a sore left foot.

Without Rodriguez, the Athletics held on to beat Seattle 3-1.

It was not immediately clear how the foot soreness occurred or how long it could sideline Rodriguez.

Rodriguez had homered in his three previous games, continuing a torrid August in which he’s hit .429 with seven homers, 30 RBI, 11 steals and a 1.198 OPS.

He was 4 for 5 with three RBI in the Mariners’ victory over the A’s in the series opener Monday, his fifth four-hit game in a 10-game span — the most by any player since 1900, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Rookie Cade Marlowe replaced Rodriguez in center field.

Rodriguez wasn’t the only player out Tuesday.

Mariners starter George Kirby also was a late scratch, about two hours before first pitch, because of an unspecified illness, the team announced.

Veteran right-hander Luke Weaver, signed just last week, made his first start for Seattle in Kirby’s place.

Then first baseman Ty France exited the game with a left wrist contusion in the second inning after a pickoff throw from Weaver bounced and hit France in the wrist.

Teo’s turnaround rooted in swing decisions

It’s no secret that the Mariners toyed with the idea of dealing Teoscar Hernandez at the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

They listened to trade possibilities, but didn’t find any suitable offers for the soon-to-be free agent.

And, boy, are they glad they didn’t.

Outside of Rodriguez, Hernandez has been hitting as well as anyone in baseball over the past month, posting a .371/.398/.649 slash line (1.047 OPS) in 102 August plate appearances entering Tuesday.

He extended his hitting streak to eight games with a fourth-inning single Tuesday night.

Sunday, he hit a 433-foot homer past center field on a hanging slider in the middle of the plate. Early in the season, he agreed, he probably would not have done that.

“It probably would have been a foul or a swing-and-miss or a rollover,” he said Tuesday afternoon.

Manager Scott Servais said Hernandez’s turnaround is rooted in one thing.

“His swing decisions have gotten so much better,” Servais said.

The Mariners have their own internal system to track swing decisions from every pitch of every plate appearance, and Servais said Hernandez’s improvement in that regard in the second half of the season have been as good as any hitter in baseball.

“That,” Servais added, “directly correlates to hitting the ball harder (and) putting up big numbers. Swinging at the right pitches is the biggest thing he’s doing. He hasn’t changed his swing at all. It’s the same swing. He’s just swinging at the right pitches.”

According to Baseball Savant, Hernandez has an overall chase rate — that is, swinging at pitches out of the strike zone — of 35.6% this season, the highest rate of his career, and a significant jump from his 29.8% career average.

That chase rate has dropped to 33% in August. More notably, he’s swinging and missing less often — with a whiff rate of 29.2% this month, down from a peak of 39.3% in May.

“As a hitter, if your timing is off, you’re going chase a lot of pitches out of the strike zone,” Hernandez said. “So for me, it’s been huge to be able to not only chase out of the strike zone (less often), but I’m not missing my pitch when I get it. If you get a pitch that you can handle and you can do some damage, don’t miss it.”

Hernandez still ranks among the league leaders in strikeouts, but he did make a point of emphasis midway through the season to cut down on strikeouts, and he said it’s working.

“I started thinking, ‘I’m just going to try to put the ball in play more often and see what happens,’” he said. “I know if I hit the ball on the barrel, I’m going to hit it hard and good results will come. That’s been one of the biggest things for me in the second half, and I think that’s why I’m having the success I’m having.”