Facing his old team gave Randy Arozarena the boost he sorely needed.
Arozarena, acquired from Tampa Bay prior to the trade deadline, snapped out of a 3-for-38 slump with a tiebreaking three-run homer to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 5-1 victory against the visiting Rays on Monday.
The three-game series continues on Tuesday in Seattle.
The homer was Arozarena’s first at home as a Mariner.
“Something I’m not going to ever do is lose my confidence, but when something like that happens, it just boosts your confidence a little more,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “I have to just continue working outside the field, because I know things are going to come.
“I’m not losing sleep over it. I know I’m not helping the team as much as they want, but I know it’s just a small streak and things will turn around.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash wasn’t surprised that Arozarena came up big against his club.
“I have so much respect for him,” Cash said. “I know he’s pretty motivated to play against us.”
Arozarena was asked before the series opener if he thought Cash would try to pitch around him.
“He’s not going to want to give me anything, but I’m still going to try and hit a homer,” said Arozarena, who went deep in the third inning to snap a 1-1 tie.
Jorge Polanco also homered for Seattle and Bryce Miller allowed one run on two hits and no walks over seven innings while matching a career high with 10 strikeouts. The Mariners improved to 3-1 under new manager Dan Wilson and pulled within 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Houston Astros in the American League West.
With two outs in the bottom of the third, the Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez hit a grounder that went under the glove of third baseman Jose Caballero, a former Mariner. The error, Caballero’s first in the past 77 games, proved costly.
Cal Raleigh followed with a dribbler down the third base line that struck the corner of the bag, resulting in an infield single. Arozarena blasted the next pitch from Ryan Pepiot over the right field wall to give Seattle a 4-1 lead.
“(Caballero), the defensive run he’s been on is just amazing,” Cash said. “Not that it was bound to happen that a ball gets by him, but he’s played elite defense. Unfortunate in the moment. And then probably the wrong guy in Randy coming up.”
The Rays, who have lost four of their past five games to drop below .500 (65-66), managed just two hits, both by Josh Lowe. The first of those was a solo homer deep to right-center in the second inning to open the scoring.
On Tuesday, Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs (1-2, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to start against Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (7-10, 3.21).
Springs is coming off a road loss to the Oakland A’s on Thursday, when he allowed three runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. He is 1-0 with a 3.95 ERA in nine career appearances against the Mariners, with eight of those outings coming in relief.
Gilbert gave up eight runs (six earned) on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings during a road defeat against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, making him 1-5 with a 4.86 ERA in his past six starts. He is 1-1 with a 4.22 ERA in four career starts against the Rays.
–Field Level Media