Randy

Arozarena

Arozarena’s home run was his 26th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Jose Quintana in the third inning. Arozarena has hit 11 of his 26 home runs this year against left-handed pitching despite having nearly 260 more plate appearances against right-handed pitching. He’s hitting .281 with an .861 OPS and 76 RBI this year.

Arozarena is doing his best to carry the Mariners, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. He’s up to 25 homers, 75 RBI and an AL-high 99 runs scored on the season. It’s going to be fascinating to see what kind of contract he gets this winter, given that he’s probably best utilized as a DH going forward.

Arozarena’s homer was hit 411 feet off Gage Jump in the second inning. He has 23 home runs, matching the second highest total of his career. He hit a career-best 27 last year.

It’s both Arozarena’s second four-hit game and second four-RBI game of the year. The homer was his 21st. This is his sixth straight 20-homer season, but this is just the third time he’s hit 21; he finished with 27 last year, 23 in 2023 and exactly 20 in 2021, ’22 and ’24. With his OBP up about 40 points from last year and 30 points from his career mark, he seems set to enter free agency coming off the best offensive season of his career.

Arozarena hit two homers Saturday in the comeback victory over the Cubs — including the walk-off — and he went deep to leadoff the game for the second day in the row. That gave Seattle a 1-0 lead, and they were outscored 19-1 from that point on. Arozarena has enjoyed a very solid (probably last) season with the Mariners with 20 homers, 58 RBI and an .836 OPS.

Arozarena led off the game with a solo homer off David Peterson. He then helped Seattle starter Kade Anderson with a spectacular home run robbery in the third inning before drawing a walk. With a runner on, down by one, and two outs in the ninth inning, he bookended the game with another homer, delivering the walk-off blast off Jacob Webb. The 31-year-old outfielder is up to 19 homers, 83 runs scored, and 20 steals while slashing .275/.369/.463 across 526 plate appearances.

As a team, the M’s were only able to muster seven hits and two walks off of Framber Valdez and company with Arozarena the only player in the lineup to reach base twice. The 31-year-old outfielder is having another solid season at the dish, slashing .285/.379/.456 with 14 homers, 49 RBI and 20 stolen bases.

The Mariners scored in three innings today, and Arozarena was a driving force each time; he walked and scored in the first, homered in the second and then doubled to lead off the ninth before scoring on a fielder’s choice to end the game. He’s up to 14 homers, six of which have come in his last 23 games.

Divish and Jude add that Seattle is also listening on starter George Kirby, which was reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan earlier on Saturday. The fact that the Mariners are willing to consider moving Arozarena is a notable development as they sit three games out of the AL West division lead and a Wild Card playoff spot. The 31-year-old impending free agent would be one of the strongest right-handed bats available on the trade market. Where Seattle sits in the standings leading into Monday’s deadline is going to be the deciding factor whether they buy or sell.

Arozarena was nearly 5-for-5 in producing hard-hit balls today, with his 94.4-mph groundout in the second barely missing out. At .284/.379/.448, he’s having an exceptional walk year as he approaches free agency for the first time. He hit .229/.333/.408 between 2024 and ’25.