Julio Rodriguez's explanation for brutal Mariners blunder is surprisingly relatable

Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez is, by most accounts, one of the most-talented players in baseball today. Yet, even the best athletes mess up from time to time. That happened to Rodriguez in a big way on Wednesday night, as his base-running blunder likely cost the Mariners the game, and gifted the Yankees a playoff spot in the process.

With Randy Arozarena at the plate, Rodriguez was at third base. Arozarena lost his bat while swinging at a pitch in the top of the tenth inning. Arozarena's errant bat nearly hit Rodriguez, who ran off the base to avoid what would've been a catastrophic injury. Unfortunately, Julio didn't run back to the bag in time and was eventually tagged out on a heads-up play from Yankees catcher Austin Wells.

Now, the casual baseball observer may wonder why time wasn't automatically granted when Rodriguez was merely avoiding injury. It's a valid question, and perhaps something the rules committee ought to look at this winter. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, he took his good ol' time getting back to the bag, and Wells took advantage.

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Julio Rodriguez has a human response to his major Mariners mistake

“All I saw was the bat flying towards my face, and I ran away from it. After that, just a little bit in shock, and I didn’t get back to third base in time… after I saw the bat, I thought it was going to be a dead play," Rodriguez said.

J-Rod's human responses proves that he, much like myself and the casual baseball viewer, should fresh up on the rulebook in our spare time. Time was not granted, and thus Rodriguez should've rushed back to the bag given the situation. As talented as Julio may be, he's still just 23 years old. He has a lot to learn.

"At that moment, I wasn’t really thinking about the game. I was just thinking about getting away from the bat coming at me. That was a first for me," Rodriguez continued.

Rodriguez accepted blame for his part in the mistake, calling it a "weird play," which is the understatement of the year for the Mariners.

Seattle remains in the AL Wild Card race, but they are running out of time. Despite featuring one of the best rotations in baseball, the Mariners are three games back of the Minnesota Twins for the final AL Wild Card spot, and must jump the Tigers as well, which are 2.5 games ahead of Seattle in the standings.

Rodriguez's mistake did not help matters.