SEATTLE -- Randy Arozarena said that he hadn’t spoken much at all to his former teammates since the splashy Trade Deadline deal that sent him from Tampa Bay to Seattle, which made an extended in-person catchup in the visiting clubhouse at T-Mobile Park on Monday afternoon all the more meaningful.

“I have so much respect for him,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said before Tampa Bay opened a three-game series in Seattle. “I know he’s pretty motivated to play against us.”

Indeed, Arozarena -- mired in a 3-for-36 skid -- broke out of his funk in a big way, with a massive, three-run homer that sent Seattle on its way to a 5-1 win against his former team.

After striking out on three vicious hacks in his first at-bat, Arozarena ambushed a first-pitch cutter from Ryan Pepiot his next time up, crushing the outside-corner offering 376 feet and way up into the right-field bleachers for a three-run blast.

He soaked up the entire moment, too, taking a lengthy 29.7 seconds to trot the bases.

“I'm never trying to direct the ball anywhere,” Arozarena said through translator Freddie Llanos. “I just try to swing it as hard as I can.”

The moment only manifested after Julio Rodríguez reached on an error by third baseman and former Mariner José Caballero -- who had a routine grounder go under his glove -- and a dribbling single from Cal Raleigh down the same line which bounced off the bag. Both were with two outs.

“It's a little bit more motivation against this team,” Arozarena said. “But I always go out there just trying to give as much as I can and being able to contribute with my [new] team to help them win.”

Arozarena’s big blast was his 17th of the season but only his second since the trade -- and his first at T-Mobile Park in a Mariners uniform. Seattle acquired him to be a middle-order force, yet Arozarena entered Monday with just a .318 slugging percentage with his new team, way below his .441 mark over parts of five seasons with the Rays.

“Something I'm not going to ever do is lose my confidence,” Arozarena said. “But when something like that happens, it just boosts your confidence a little more. And it was a little bit more special because it was my first one in this ballpark, being part of the home team.”

Part of his struggles have certainly been an adjustment to a completely new life, especially given how at home Arozarena felt with Tampa Bay. He had an entire section of stands dedicated to him at Tropicana Field, known as “Randy Land,” which was a reflection of Arozarena blossoming into the Rays’ most popular player.

He even spent his final night in those bleachers, alongside his family and mingling with fans, before flying to join the Mariners in Chicago the next day.

“He should feel comfortable for what he meant to myself, the organization, his teammates,” Cash said. “I’ve continued to say that a lot of the success over the last four or five years, Randy’s been right in the middle of it.”

It certainly hasn’t been all bad for Arozarena since the trade, as he hit .308 with a .908 OPS in his first 15 games after the deal, which preceded the 3-for-39 stretch he entered Monday in. But his production is vital to Seattle’s success.

In the 12 wins he’s played in since the trade, he’s hit .302/.455/.442 (.897 OPS), a stark contrast to his slash line of .146/.305/.271 (.576 OPS) in their 14 losses he’s been a part of.

Yet beyond Arozarena, Seattle’s scuffling offense could badly use a power boost to offset their strikeout-prone tendencies. Their MLB-worst 27.7% K rate looks even more glaring next to their .364 slugging percentage, which is the league’s second-worst to only the White Sox (.344).

But the Mariners continue to receive stellar starting pitching, with Bryce Miller turning in the latest gem thanks to Arozarena’s run support.

Miller tied a career high with 10 strikeouts and surrendered just one run, via a homer in the second inning that Josh Lowe pummeled 437 feet off an over-the-plate fastball in a 3-1 count. Other than that, Miller worked ahead most of the night -- and continued to show that he’s getting stronger as the season reaches the final stage.

“It's a combination of everything,” Miller said. “Also my body, it's not [going through] it for the first time. I feel really good right now.”