Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco go back-to-back as Mariners rough up Miami

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on Apr 27, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — One pitch was all the Seattle Mariners needed to recharge some positive vibes into the ballpark Saturday night.

Julio Rodriguez hammered the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the first inning off the left-field foul pole for a loud home run and Jorge Polanco went back-to-back two pitches later to power the Mariners to a six-run first inning en route to a 14-0 dismantling of the Miami Marlins before a crowd of 35,362 at T-Mobile Park.

On the day their ace, Logan Gilbert, landed on the injured list with an elbow flexor strain, the Mariners offense provided an immediate lift against Miami starter Connor Gillispie.

Rodriguez and Polanco became the third pair of Mariners to lead off a game with back-to-back homers — Ichiro was involved in the other two — and Polanco added another solo blast in the fourth inning to continue his torrid start to the season.

Rookie third baseman Ben Williamson drove in four runs to continue the blazing start to his big-league career, and the Mariners (15-12) scored a season-high 14 runs on 15 hits.

The M’s will try to win their sixth straight series Sunday when right-hander Logan Evans, their top pitching prospect, makes his major-league debut opposite Max Meyer, the Marlins’ emerging young ace.

The 23-year-old Evans, the Mariners’ 12th-round pick in 2023, takes over the spot in the rotation from Gilbert, who will be shut down from throwing for two weeks and then reevaluated. He’s likely to be out until at least June.

With starter George Kirby (shoulder inflammation) still on the injured list as well, the Mariners will need more from an offense that has shown signs of a steady resurgence over the past few weeks.

This was about as good as it gets for any offense.

Rodriguez’s leadoff homer was his fourth of the season — and seventh of his career — and it was a rocket at 112.5 mph off his bat, with a projected distance of 417 feet.

Polanco’s raised his OPS over 1.000 — to 1.085 by the end of the night — with his two homers, and Williamson and Miles Mastrobuoni had back-to-back two-run doubles during the breakthrough first inning against Gillispie, who was charged with seven earned runs in his two innings.

This game had a little bit of everything for the Mariners.

Every Mariners batter reached base at least once. Luke Raley had three hits and a sac fly RBI, and Mitch Garver had his first homer of the season (off a Miami position player, Javier Sanoja) in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 13-0.

Luis Castillo, in his best start of the season, threw six shutout innings, allowing only one hit (a single), with two walks and five strikeouts. The Marlins put only one runner in scoring position, and never a runner past second base.

There was a stellar defensive play from shortstop J.P. Crawford, who made a diving stop up the middle and then used his glove to flip the ball to his second baseman, Mastrobuoni, who fired to first for a spectacular 6-4-3 putout.

There was also an injury scare when first baseman Rowdy Tellez was hit in the hand by a 94-mph fastball from Miami reliever Anthony Veneziano with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.

Tellez eventually came out of the game. There was no immediate update on his injury status.