Mariners fend off Rangers, take series with 5-4 win

Julio Rodríguez joins rare company with 100th home run

Julio Rodríguez hit a milestone home run and the Mariners reaffirmed their status as the top challenger in the AL West.

Rodríguez’s 20th homer of the season on Sunday helped power the Mariners to a 5-4 win over the Rangers. With it, Julio became the first player ever to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in each of his first four seasons. Logan Evans continued his early-game dominance and managed to hand off a small lead to the bullpen, who locked down the Rangers’ lineup in the second half of the game. The Mariners moved within 2 1/2 games of the Astros in the AL West.

The new depth in the Mariners lineup seemed to overwhelm Rangers’ starter Jacob deGrom, who labored through five innings and allowed five runs, three walks and four hits (including three homers). Jorge Polanco opened the scoring in the second inning with a 110.4 mph missile into the right field seats. He started the at bat 0-2 but laid off a couple waste pitches and forced deGrom back into the zone. Polanco got a mistake and didn’t miss. He now has 18 home runs in 2025 and a 125 wRC+.

With two outs and nobody on in the third, Cal Raleigh extended the inning with a long walk and brought Julio to the plate. deGrom tried to sneak a slider over for a first pitch strike, but it hung belt high and Julio lasered it the other way for his 20th home run on the season. With 20 stolen bases this year already (he’d add number 21 after a rocket single in the fifth), Julio became the first player ever to go 20-20 in each of his first four seasons. It was also Julio’s 100th career home run, making him the third player ever with 100 homers and 100 steals at this point in his career.

Julio entered Sunday’s game with a 169 wRC+ in 85 plate appearances since his mammoth series in Detroit. He now has nine homers over his last 20 games. He said the biggest change for him has been getting back to driving the ball the other way — just like he did on his homer in the third.

“When I commit that way” he said after the game, “ the whole field opens up for me.”

It wasn’t just big day for Julio on offense — he came through in the field as well. In the fifth, Josh Smith roped a 103.6 mph line drive into the left-center gap, but Julio tracked it down with a running effort just in front of the wall.

“I know I can change the game,” he said of his defense after the game.

The biggest hit of the day came in the fourth. deGrom again erased the first two batters of the inning before Dominic Canzone worked an eight pitch-walk. That brought up J.P. Crawford, who didn’t miss on a middle fastball.

Evans entered the day as one of the 20 best starting pitchers in MLB on the first time through the order. He continued that first-look dominance again on Sunday. A leadoff single in the second inning was the only base runner the Rangers could muster in their first nine plate appearances. Evans appears capable of baffling hitters on their first turn in a game, possibly due to his broad pitch mix and unpredictable location. Here’s what the Rangers saw on their first pass:

Of course, what’s limited Evans this year is his inability to set down opponents a second and third time in a game. That was immediately the case Sunday when the Rangers’ lineup turned over with two outs in the third inning. Smith dropped a single in front of Canzone (a ball a better fielder would have caught), and Corey Seager followed with a two-run homer that plopped off the top of the wall in left-center. A pair of doubles in the fourth inning gave the Rangers their third run.

Evans ultimately got through five innings with three strikeouts, no walks and 10 whiffs. He remains the Mariners’ fifth starter at the moment, but it’s not clear what his future holds when Bryce Miller inevitably returns from injured list later this month. Perhaps he will stay on the staff in an opener role, or perhaps he will work as more of a traditional long reliever when rosters expand in September. Regardless, Evans seems capable of helping the Mariners in some capacity over the next two months.

Carlos Vargas took over for Evans in the sixth. He allowed a solo homer but otherwise shutdown the Rangers for two innings while striking out three. Despite the homer, it was nice to see Vargas get a few strikeouts — he hadn’t struck out a batter in 14 of his last 16 appearances. It was also nice to see Caleb Ferguson take over in the eighth inning against the top of the Rangers order, who were predominantly lefties. The Mariners have kept just one lefty in the bullpen most of the season, and with Gabe Speier unavailable on Sunday, the pre-deadline Mariners would have been forced to turn to a less favorable matchup. Instead, they got the left-on-left advantage, and Ferguson set down the side with three consecutive fly outs to each of the Mariners’ outfielders.

That got the ball to Andrés Muñoz with a 5-4 lead in the ninth. Things started a bit dicey. Muñoz walked the leadoff batter and J.P. Crawford bobbled a grounder before making a late flip to second. The call on the field was out but the Rangers challenged; after a long review the “out” call was confirmed. Sam Haggerty tried to take that base back with an attempted steal, but Raleigh cut him down. The Rangers mini-rally was all of a sudden down to its final strike. Muñoz shut the door.

With Sunday’s victory, the Mariners took the four-game series and improved their record against the Rangers to 10-3 in 2025. Both teams entered the series tied for second and five games back of first place. The Mariners now sit just 2 1/2 back of the Astros, who got swept this weekend in Boston.

Dan Wilson expressed confidence in his new-look squad with two months to play. He said he believes their best days are still ahead.

“It’s going to be a fun, fun stretch alright.”