Julio Rodriguez breaks personal home run drought in Mariners loss

WASHINGTON — He’s been asked some form of the question after each of his previous two homers and after multi-hit games and other glimpses of the success he and the Mariners expect.

So on Saturday after the Mariners’ frustrating 3-1 loss to the Nationals, Julio Rodriguez was again asked if his solo homer off starter Trevor Williams along with several hard-hit balls over the past few games is something that can carry over into future games with even better results.

Rodriguez shrugged his shoulders a little and smiled, replying, “I know you guys are always asking that. It feels good, obviously. It feels like I’m putting the ball in play and hitting some balls hard and in the air. Whenever they are going to fall, they’re going to fall. That’s part of the game, too. There are nine defenders out there, too. We are just going to continue to work and play hard every single day.”

Rodriguez’s third homer came in his 53^rd game of the season, which was not expected. He has struggled to drive the ball in the air with any sort of consistency due to some mechanical issues with his setup and swing and pitch recognition and discipline.

His first homer came on April 23 at Texas off right-hander Dane Dunning. It was Rodriguez 23^rd game of the season.

The second homer came 18 games later on May 12 at T-Mobile Park on a deep drive to center off Athletics lefty Alex Wood.  

In the 11 games since that second homer, Rodriguez had 11 hits, all singles, in 46 plate appearances with a walk and 12 strikeouts.

But he had gone hitless in his previous 18 plate appearances before the homer.

“It always feels good anytime you can hit a home run, especially off a guy that’s throwing really well right now,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has worked on changing his setup at the plate and also the load to his swing, finding a comfort zone of using his legs but not squatting into them too much to initiate the swing.

“I’m just working on my approach and just be more on time on the fastball and just kind of be more on time in general,” he said. “I feel like it’s been paying off little by little.”

Rodriguez showed his hands that were calloused and blistered as a result of the extra work he’s been putting in.

“We’ve been swinging quite a bit and I’m trying to adjust and continue to improve every single day,” he said. “My swing is just a swing that can drive a ball to all parts of the field. Every time that I can drive the ball somewhere, it’s feels really good.”

The home run made the extra work worth it.

“When you get a little taste like that,” he said, “it keeps you more and more hungry to just keep working.”