Arozarena didn't wait for the ruling -- he knew his ABS challenge would win

SEATTLE -- The rules for a hitter exercising an Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system challenge necessitate that there must be zero hesitation.

And there was absolutely none from Randy Arozarena when winning the first successful challenge for the Mariners in Saturday night's 6-5 loss to the Guardians -- so much so that he’d already removed his equipment and was walking to first base before the ruling was revealed.

With a full count in the second inning, Seattle’s slugging left fielder was called for strike three by home-plate umpire Ryan Additon on a borderline curveball inside from Guardians lefty Joey Cantillo. It was actually much closer than it might’ve appeared, just 0.2 inches off the zone.

But so sure was Arozarena that he was already three paces out of the batter’s box when he tapped on his helmet to signal the challenge. From there, he took off his shin guard and elbow protector, handed them to the batboy and was jogging to first base in the 15 seconds it took for the final call to come in.

And the decision paid off, beyond having a one-out baserunner instead of two outs and the bases empty.

In the ensuing at-bat, Brendan Donovan hit into a forceout that sent Arozarena back to the dugout, but the inning was still alive. Victor Robles then followed by yanking a double into the left-field corner that allowed Donovan to race all the way home and give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.

Like most teams across MLB, Seattle is still sorting out when and how its hitters should challenge balls and strikes. With only two challenges per team per game, the club has loosely preached the importance of game context and tempering urgency as such.

The Mariners didn’t utilize either of their challenges in Thursday’s 6-4 loss on Opening Day, though Cal Raleigh said postgame that he regretted not using one during a critical strikeout in the eighth inning. Then on Friday, they burned both challenges by the sixth, which prevented Raleigh from using one on a called strikeout in the seventh that Baseball Savant showed was outside the zone.

In this regard, it was unclear if Arozarena had the green light to do so that early on Saturday.

As one of the most self-assured players in Seattle’s lineup, it’s hard to fault the conviction -- especially since it paid off in the moment and its immediate aftermath.