KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, a leading candidate for the AL Rookie of the Year award, was put on the 10-day injured list Friday because of a lower back strain.
The move came with Seattle holding the third and final wild-card spot, 1 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay and Toronto and three games ahead of Baltimore. Outfielder Taylor Trammell was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.
The Mariners fell 5-1 to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, their sixth loss in their past eight games.
“You never know whenever any time a player goes on the IL, is he going to be ready to go when he’s coming off there,” Seattle manager Scott Servias said. “After 10 days, all of our trainers and our medical people think he should be OK at that point. He does so much for our team, energy-wise, top of the lineup. He’s kind of leading the charge.”
Rodriguez left Thursday’s win at Oakland in the first inning after experiencing back tightness. The 21-year-old leads rookies in home runs (27), runs scored (81), and total bases (251) and is second in RBIs (73) and stolen bases (25). He was the only rookie to be chosen an All-Star this season.
Rodriguez was replaced in center field by Jarred Kelenic for Seattle’s game at Kansas City. Third baseman J.P. Crawford took Rodriguez’s accustomed leadoff spot in the batting order. Kelenic went 1-for-4, and Crawford went 1-for-2 with a walk.
“I was anticipating more of [Kelenic’s] reps would come on the corners, but with Julio out now, he’ll be playing in center field,” Servais said before Friday’s game. “We’re going to let him run with it.”
Trammell has played 41 games for Seattle this year, batting .208 with four home runs and 10 RBIs. He was hitting .333 with five homers and 12 RBI in 22 games for Tacoma.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.