Mariners Julio Rodriguez has MRI on right ankle a day after crashing into outfield fence

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez was out of the starting lineup on Monday after leaving Sunday’s game in the sixth inning with a sprained right ankle, and was still considered “day to day.”

Rodríguez underwent an MRI on Monday afternoon, and the team is awaiting results.

Rodríguez injured his right ankle on Sunday when he jumped for a long drive hit by Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez and crashed into the wall. He twisted his ankle on the padding of the wall in center field, grabbed his ankle in pain and remained on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field with manager Scott Servais and trainer Taylor Bennett.

After Seattle’s 6-4 victory, Servais said initial X-rays were negative and the team would be cautious with the 2022 American League Rookie of the Year before returning him to the starting lineup.

“Julio’s doing okay,” Servais said on Monday. “He’s getting checked out and was doing tests here early this afternoon. We’ll know more on that, but early indications are, and we’ll keep our fingers crossed, that we escaped a really bad injury and hopefully he’s not out too long. Like I said yesterday, it really is day to day right now until we get more from the MRI results.”

Rodríguez has taken off at the plate lately following a slow start to the season, batting .459 with four homers and eight RBI over his past 12 games, with a .524 on-base percentage and 1.389 OPS.