SEATTLE — In a season that has failed to live up to the high expectations held by fans and higher expectations held by himself, Julio Rodriguez delivered the sort of magical performance that has been missing far too often this season.

In a game the Seattle Mariners simply couldn’t lose, Rodriguez wouldn’t let them fall another game back in the standings and move even closer to in-season irrelevance.

With the Mariners trailing by two runs Friday and seemingly destined to suffer yet another frustrating loss where the offense didn’t do enough, Rodriguez changed it all with one short, vicious swing of the bat in the bottom of the eighth at T-Mobile Park.

Facing veteran right-hander David Robertson with a pair of runners on base, Rodriguez sat on a hanging breaking ball, launching it deep into the upper deck in left field for a three-run homer and a one-run lead. It was his fourth hit of the night.

Andres Munoz closed out the 5-4 victory with a 1-2-3 ninth inning and the Mariners can still hope and dream of a postseason berth.

With the Houston Astros also victorious, the Mariners remained 4 1/2 games back in the AL West and moved to 3 1/2 games back of the Minnesota Twins, who lost, for the third AL wild-card spot.

The go-ahead homer was Rodriguez’s 75th of his career. He joins Bobby Witt Jr. as the only players to tally 75 homers and 75 stolen bases in their first three MLB seasons.

Making the start in place of the injured Luis Castillo, right-hander Emerson Hancock, who has served as the fill-in sixth starter this season, gave the Mariners a workable outing.

Hancock struggled to get through the first inning. It started early when he hit the first batter of the game — Marcus Semien — with a 2-2 sinker that got away from him.

Josh Smith followed with a hard single to right field to put runners on first and second.

Hancock came back to strike out Wyatt Langford and coaxed a fly out to center from Adolis Garcia for two quick outs without allowing a run to score.

But the third out wouldn’t come as easily.

Nathaniel Lowe ripped a ground ball just off the glove of first baseman Luke Raley and into right field to drive in a run in the first run of the game.

With runners on the corners, Hancock got Josh Jung to hit a slider off the end of the bat to produce a soft ground ball to the right side. Unfortunately, second baseman Jorge Polanco was playing for Jung to pull and the slow roller with a 68.7-mph exit velocity went for an RBI single.

Hancock was able to limit the damage by getting Jonah Heim to ground out to first.

He also reeled in his outing, allowing just one more run — a solo homer to Langford on a misplaced changeup — in the fifth inning that made it 3-0.

His line: five innings pitched, three runs allowed on six hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

Making his first start since April 28, 2023, Jacob deGrom pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits with no walks and four strikeouts for Texas.

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