September 21 – Julio Rodríguez went 3-for-5 with 2 homers and 5 RBI, Josh Rojas hit a home run and two RBI to lead the Seattle Mariners to an 8–2 win over the host Texas Rangers in Friday night’s opener.
It was Rodriguez’s fourth career multi-homer game and the five RBIs tied a career high. Victor Robles also had two hits, a stolen base and an RBI for Seattle (79-75). George Kirby (13-11) improved to 7-0 in nine career starts against Texas, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings while striking out four.
Adolis Garcia went 3-for-4 with a double and a run, Nathaniel Lowe had a two-run single and Ezequiel Duran also had three hits, including a ground-rule double for Texas (73-81).
Jack Leiter (0-3) started the fourth inning in relief of Jacob deGrom, but gave up seven runs (ERA, 6 points) on six hits in five innings. He walked twice and struck out five.
DeGrom, who has pitched 60 times, was making his second start of the season and first at Globe Life Field since April 28, 2023, following Tommy John surgery last summer. He allowed one run on three hits in three innings, gave up a four-base hit and struck out five.
Rojas hit his eighth home run into the bullpen in right-center in the third inning, giving Seattle a 1–0 lead.
In the fourth, Josh Smith’s single gave Texas a 2–1 lead, and Garcia hit a double and scored on Lowe’s single to center.
In the fifth inning, Rodriguez hit a three-run homer 398 feet to left field to give the Mariners a 4–2 lead.
Seattle extended its lead to 6–2 in the seventh inning when Robles beat out an infield single and then hit Rodríguez’s 18th homer into the right field stands opposite the outfield.
The Mariners added two insurance runs in the eighth inning on sacrifice fly balls by Rojas and Robles to make the score 8–2.
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