Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena power Mariners to season-high 15 runs

DETROIT – Julio Rodríguez homering in consecutive games for the first time this season will deservedly get some of the attention of what happened Saturday at Comerica Park.

But let’s also take a moment to recognize Randy Arozarena’s left elbow.

It was Arozarena’s elbow that was plunked by a 0-2 pitch from Detroit’s All-Star pitcher Casey Mize that kept the third inning going for the Mariners. The hit-by-pitch was followed by Jorge Polanco’s double, and that was followed by Luke Raley’s three-run homer that quickly gave the Mariners a 6-1 lead.

It was all part of an offensive eruption as the Mariners beat the Tigers 15-7, taking the first two games of the final series before the All-Star break. If Arozarena’s elbow doesn’t wear that wayward splitter, does that entire outburst even happen?

“We got huge lifts kind of all the way through the game,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “Just a great effort all around from those at-bats.”

The past two days are why these Mariners are equally frustrating and impossible to give up on at the same time. Get ruthlessly swept in the Bronx and look like a team ready to teeter, only to turn around and have a chance to sweep the team with the best record in baseball with Logan Gilbert on the mound Sunday.

“I just think it shows the resilience of the team and just proves that we can play with anybody,” Raley said. “I mean, Detroit’s been the best team in the league all year. So it just shows how good our lineup can be and how we can stay in games and do everything that we need to do to win games.”

This wasn’t a day when the pitching was exceptional. George Kirby struggled early, then gave up a three-run homer to Riley Greene in his last inning of work that cut into the M’s six-run lead at the time. The bullpen also had some shaky moments in closing out the big lead.

Therefore, it was on the offense and became a group effort on the way to a season-high 19 hits and 15 runs. The M’s received a huge day from Arozarena, who scored four times, had three hits and homered for the eighth time in the past 12 games with a two-run shot in the eighth inning to take an 11-5 lead.

They needed Dominic Canzone’s four hits, the first four-hit game by a Mariner this season. They needed Ben Williamson’s RBI single in the seventh to take a 9-4 lead and his one in the ninth to go up 12-7. That was followed two batters later by a three-run double from J.P. Crawford, who has a 13-game hitting streak.

“It’s just the trust in everyone that they’re going to do their job. Just seeing a lot of pitches today,” Canzone said. “We faced two really good starters back-to-back and again, just working some counts, getting the ball in the middle of plate, a lot of hits in the middle of field.”

They needed Raley’s fourth homer and second since missing nearly two months with an oblique strain, a shot into the right-field seats that ensured Mize would have his worst outing of the season.

“He’s a really good pitcher and to get him out of the game that quick is huge,” Raley said. “Especially against this team. Obviously, like you saw, they never stop.”

Eight of the nine batters in the M’s order had at least one hit – maybe cut Cal Raleigh some slack on that. But even Raleigh chipped in with a sacrifice fly as part of that five-run third-inning outburst.

He also nearly joined Barry Bonds as the only players in baseball history with 39 home runs before the All-Star break. The sac fly was close. The fly ball Raleigh hit in the eighth inning, which was caught just in front of the wall in right field, was closer.

Rodríguez finished with three hits, adding an RBI single and a double to the homer. And yes, homering in consecutive games is a big deal, as the slugging has been the biggest offensive absence from his game in the first half.

Rodríguez’s homer traveled an estimated 427 feet and left the bat at 111.6 mph. The double he hit in the eighth was 113.7 mph, the hardest-hit ball in the game.

“He’s been working hard and trying to iron it out and has really put in a lot of work,” Wilson said. “I think we’re starting to see that a lot out here, just finding barrels and hitting the ball on the line. Everything off his barrel is 110 (mph) plus and the home run just one of those pitches where he’s able to turn on it and just really get great extension and drive it out of here.”

Kirby will certainly be frustrated – and maybe a little furious – at the way his start began and finished. He walked his first batter of the game, missed to his arm side early on and needed 32 pitches to get through the first inning, fortunate to only give up one run.

The end wasn’t great, either. With two outs in the fifth, Kirby walked Wenceel Perez with a runner already on. That third walk, matching his career high allowed in a start, became massive as All-Star Greene punched a 2-2 splitter opposite-field for a three-run homer that cut the M’s lead to 7-4.

“Ideally, I would have liked it lower than the one I threw him, I guess 1-1 or whatever was, but he put a good swing on it so can’t really think about that one too much,” Kirby said.

In between the rough first and the homer in the fifth, Kirby was overpowering in those middle three innings with four strikeouts and one base runner allowed.

That stretch looked like the version of Kirby that in his previous three starts had thrown 18 1/3 combined innings and allowed two earned runs.

Kirby’s final line: five innings, five hits, four runs and six strikeouts.

“Just wasn’t hitting my spots early. And then after that was able to command the baseball better, get below zone with off-speed and did pretty well there,” Kirby said.

Eduard Bazardo created some serious stress in the eighth inning giving up Zach McKinstry’s two-run homer and loaded the bases with one out, forcing Matt Brash to be summoned from the bullpen. But Brash got a soft line out from Gleyber Torres and a ground ball from Perez to end the threat.