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The Seattle Mariners defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-0 on Monday night. Seattle advanced to 51-50, reclaiming their division lead while Cincinnati dropped to 45-54.
For the Mariners, they were largely without the services of starting center fielder Julio Rodríguez and starting third baseman J.P. Crawford. The latter did not make it into the game at all after tweaking his wrist in batting practice.
Rodríguez left in the top of the sixth inning after appearing to step on first base the wrong way, subsequently grabbing his hamstring. He was legging out an infield single that brought in the first Mariners run of the game.
Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Reds, both will likely be absent from the lineup. Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports reported that the team is being careful with both.
The 25-year-old Rodríguez just recently came off the concussion injured list on Saturday. In 90 games, he is slashing .256/.320/.417 (.737 OPS) with 14 home runs and 42 RBIs. He is infamously a better performer in the second half.
Defensively though he has lost a step. His 0 fielding run value is far below his career average (h/t FanGraphs). He has been getting better as of late however, and hopefully this suspected hamstring injury does not hamper him further.
As for Crawford, he has appeared in 82 games this year, missing those other 19 Mariners games due to shoulder inflammation and a hand contusion. He is slashing .215/.338/.352 (.680 OPS) with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs.
His subpar performance this season has led fans to speculate that he will be taken out of the starting lineup in some fashion once Brendan Donovan returns from his lengthy absence.
Seattle does find themselves in first place in a weak American League West. The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are right on their heels, Texas a half game back and Houston three and a half back.
It seems like Rodríguez and Crawford will be back soon, though perhaps not for a couple days. They will send Luis Castillo (3-8, 4.93 ERA) to the mound Tuesday at 9:40 p.m. ET.
Related: Mariners Get Encouraging Brendan Donovan Update Before Reds Game
