SEATTLE – It was clear something was on Julio Rodríguez’s mind when he entered the Seattle Mariners clubhouse before the team’s penultimate game against the for-now Oakland Athletics, but soon to be just “A’s” Saturday afternoon. He had a question for manager Dan Wilson who he found in the hallway outside his office.

The key things Dipoto said about Mariners’ offseason plans

“Skip, is there early hitting today?” he asked.

If there wasn’t, it certainly could, and would be arranged quickly. While there were just two games remaining and the postseason no longer an option, Rodríguez felt the need to finish strong, if not in results at least by feel.

“(It’s) very important,” he said. “Being able to finish the season knowing that you feel good, that you kind of checked your boxes out. Especially later in the year, it kind of drives some good air into the offseason so you’re looking forward to the next year.”

It has taken some time for Rodríguez to get to this feeling. Having got off to a slow start while hitting just seven home runs through the first three months of the season, he would not experience a significant turnaround until July when his slugging percentage jumped 61 points. An ankle injury interrupted that success forcing him to miss 16 games. He did not miss a beat in his return posting similar numbers in August before taking another jump in September. The hitter we see today is not the hitter who left Peoria six months ago. Rodriguez admits it has been a process.

“In this last stretch, I feel like I’ve been a lot more comfortable and just kind of having a simple thought in my mind and going up there with that and just kind of believing in myself a lot more,” he said. “Especially in bigger situations, in any type of situations, just knowing what I want to do is something so simple and that can carry me. That has helped me out as a hitter and I’m going to plan on continuing to keep it moving forward.”

Rodríguez said leaving practice behind when he stepped into the batter’s box was key. “The work has been done, let it play.”

“That’s something that I used to do that maybe I took a little bit for granted and this year, I was able to kind of get it a little bit more again. It’s just kind of being out there and playing free.”

To get there, according to Julio, it takes good people around you. The name at the top of the list is likely not a surprise.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to (hitting coach) Edgar (Martinez),” he said. “He was he was somebody that instilled a lot of things that I kind of forgot in myself. And I’m grateful that he was able to be part of this coaching staff for the last stretch of the season.”

For Rodríguez and others, it goes back to simplifying. Martinez believes if the swing is good, trust it. Approaches can be simple. Stay up the middle, let the ball travel, adjust if need be, fight if you get to two strikes.

“As a hitter in the times that we’re living, we kind of forget that feel of the game,” Rodríguez. “And that’s something that he really kind of brought to not just to me, but I’m sure to a lot of the guys in this room and, yeah, I’m going to give the credit to him.”

Martinez has been around the team for years, available before most home games, behind the batting cages. It’s different when he is the voice of hitting and not leaving the ballpark once the game starts. Julio has seen him have great impact in the dugout.

“One thing that might seem small for a lot of people, every time you have Edgar Martinez in your dugout telling you, ‘Are you ready to go compete?’ It kind of fires you up. Are you ready to go compete out there? Do you got this guy? Little things like that,” Rodríguez said. “That’s Edgar Martinez, he’s gonna get you riled up and you want to go out there and compete and just do the best you can. Even whenever you were to miss, he’s never doubting you and for the next at-bat he brings the same energy.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, he’s always there for you. And I feel like that’s something as a player that you love so much because we struggle so much in this game. Let’s say you have somebody in your corner that is actually there supporting you and you feel that, you feel like they got your back, truly. And that’s something that is really, really impactful for me.

Rodríguez plans to do more than give Martinez, who was brought on to help Wilson through the end of the year, credit. He would like him to stick around.

“I would love him to stay. I feel like he’s somebody that all of us, we can benefit so much,” he said. “We respect him so much and he just loves this organization just like how we do. He built this organization in the beginning pretty much. Just the impact that he has on all of us, I feel like that’s something that I would love for him to stay. At the same time, he has his own things going on. I feel like we (are) all waiting to see.”

In the meantime, there is a season of expectations not met to put behind them. Never one to focus on the negative, Rodríguez looks forward.

“I don’t want to say disappointed,” he answered when asked his feelings of the outcome of the season. “Obviously, it was definitely a learning year for a lot of us as players, to me personally, too. I just feel like this is part of a long journey. I feel like this isn’t the end right now, this is a chapter of it this year, but I feel like a lot of us as a player, we learned a lot and that’s something that we’re going to carry on for next year and obviously looking forward to going deeper into the games and into the playoffs and be able to play some real ballgames.”

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• Rost: Where Seattle Mariners’ season ending leaves fans
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• Video: What led to Seattle Mariners missing the playoffs again
• Requiem for a Seattle Mariners Season: The questions that await

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SEATTLE (AP) — Leo Rivas scored on Justin Turner’s fielder’s-choice grounder to lift the Seattle Mariners over the Oakland Athletics 7-6 in 10 innings on Saturday night.

Seattle Mariners 7, Oakland Athletics 6 (10 innings): Box score

Pinch-runner Rivas avoided Shea Langeliers’ tag attempt at the plate with a wide slide, giving Seattle its third straight win and 11th victory in its final at-bat of the season.

“That’s not exactly what I was trying to do up there,” pinch-hitter Turner said of his grounder to second. “But (hitting coach Edgar Martinez) talks about it all the time, just trying to get a good pitch and hit it hard somewhere, move the ball forward and make things happen.”

The Mariners’ comeback win — their 32nd of the season — came with nothing on the line after the team was eliminated from postseason contention midweek. But the teams traded late leads and Luke Raley rallied the Mariners twice for their seventh win in their last nine games.

First, Julio Rodríguez scored from first base on Raley’s double into the left-field corner for a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning. Then he hit a two-run homer to right field to tie it 6-6 in the ninth. His 22nd homer came after Langeliers had put the A’s up 6-4 in the top of the inning with a three-run homer.

“It’s the big leagues,” Raley said of his motivation. “Not everybody gets to do this. I will never take a day for granted.”

Eduard Bazardo (2-0) earned the win and Scott Alexander (1-3) took the loss.

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hit his 92nd career homer in the fourth inning, tying him with Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets Hall of Famer Mike Piazza for most home runs through the first four years of a career for catchers. That also ties Alvin Davis’ team record. Ninety of the 92 homers came after the switch hitter’s first year in the majors.

Josh Rojas added a two-run single later in the inning to put Seattle up 3-0.

Emerson Hancock, a rookie right-hander making his 12th start after being called up from Triple-A Tacoma, walked four batters. He struck out three and gave up five hits in 5 1/3 innings. But he started the fifth by putting Max Schuemann on base, then one out later Brent Rocker hit his 39th homer to cut the Mariners’ lead to 3-2.

“You can kind of see him emerging and taking on that responsibility (of clubhouse leadership), which is awesome,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “I hope that tomorrow works out for him and he gets that 40th homer.”

Tyler Soderstrom tied it in the sixth with a solo shot to the left-field corner.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners RHP Bryce Miller was moved to the 15-day injured list with a blister on his right index finger. The move opened a roster spot for Hancock. Miller was 12-8 and led the majors with nine starts of 6-plus scoreless innings. He’s the first Mariners starter with an ERA lower than 3.99 (2.94) and a WHIP below 1.00 (0.98) since Félix Hernández in 2014.

UP NEXT

Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (8-12, 3.33 ERA) faces Oakland RHP Mitch Spence (8-9, 4.35) to close out the season.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• The key things Dipoto said about Mariners’ offseason plans
• Cal Raleigh reflects on Mariners’ ‘disappointing’ 2024 season
• Rost: Where Seattle Mariners’ season ending leaves fans
• Video: What led to Seattle Mariners missing the playoffs again
• Requiem for a Seattle Mariners Season: The questions that await

SEATTLE – Elysian Brewing’s annual “Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off” was unexpectedly canceled today in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Instead, the brewery’s taproom became the site of a union rally as employees protested what they call unfair labor practices by Elysian’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Teamsters carried signs and chanted slogans accusing AB InBev of stalling negotiations on Elysian Brewing workers’ first-ever union contract. 

Employees, represented by Teamsters Local 117, claim the multinational company has spent the past year refusing to bargain in good faith. FOX 13 spoke with Shannon Mullins, who is a lead technician at Elysian. She says AB InBev has larger breweries that have been unionized for years. 

“They’re trying to say we do different work because we’re a craft brewery,” said Mullins. “Its an industry that alot of people think is cool to work in and everything but its hard work, its dangerous, its dirty and we deserve to be in a union.”

Typically, the “Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off” draws growers from all over. Elysian has not confirmed the rally prompted the cancelation. FOX 13 has reached out for comment. 

Elysian is still looking forward to next weekend’s main event, the ‘Great Pumpkin Beer Festival’ scheduled for Friday and Saturday. At this point, all tickets have sold out. 

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