Julio Rodriguez hit a massive two-run homer and Bryan Woo continued his mastery of the Athletics as the host Seattle Mariners earned a split of their season-opening, four-game series with a 2-1 victory Sunday afternoon.
Rodriguez’s 438-foot shot in the bottom of the sixth inning, after Victor Robles reached on a one-out infield single, landed three rows from the top of the upper deck in left field.
“That’s the best feeling in the world to square a ball like that,” Rodriguez said on the postgame show on ROOT Sports before getting doused by Robles with a water cooler while standing outside the home dugout.
Woo (1-0) allowed one run on three hits over six innings, with two walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander, a native of Alameda, Calif., which is adjacent to the Athletics’ former home of Oakland, improved to 6-0 in seven career starts against the A’s with a 0.72 ERA — which actually soared from 0.57 entering the day.
Gregory Santos, Trent Thornton and Andres Munoz each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Mariners, with Munoz working the ninth and striking out a pair for his second save of the season.
Tyler Soderstrom led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to left-center field to give the A’s a 1-0 lead. It was Soderstrom’s third solo shot of the series after hitting a pair on opening night.
The only other hits Woo gave up were a one-out infield single by Jacob Wilson in the second and a two-out double to left by JJ Bleday in the third.
A’s lefty JP Sears (0-1) was the hard-luck loser. He allowed two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Sears never allowed a baserunner to reach scoring position, as
Robles was at first base when Rodriguez went deep on a first-pitch hanging slider.
