ST. LOUIS -- When Edgar Martinez took over as Mariners hitting coach a little over two weeks ago, he made it clear that his most paramount emphasis would be on simplicity.

And after Seattle¡¯s 10-4 win over the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, a game that was all but decided in the first inning, players have preached that his messaging has resonated -- and more so, yielded legitimate results.

¡°I feel like a lot of us are all really young, even though we have different ages, but like, the experience that he brings to the table every single night, it's so much,¡± Julio Rodr¨ªguez said. ¡°I'm happy that he's on our side. Really happy.¡±

Rodr¨ªguez sparked a five-spot for the Mariners in the opening frame, with the first of five straight knocks to begin the matinee against struggling righty Miles Mikolas. Randy Arozarena crushed a two-run homer in the second then Jorge Polanco added another two-run shot in the fifth.

The Mariners finished with 13 total hits when the dust settled, marking the fourth time in their past five games that they¡¯ve had more than 10, each of which yielded wins. The outlier, obviously, was Saturday¡¯s shutout, when they gave Logan Gilbert zero run support in a gut-punch defeat.

As such, this offensive outbreak should be classified as marginal until the sample size grows. Yet it¡¯s allowed them to finish this up-and-down road trip 5-5 and on a high note. They still have a significant uphill climb in the postseason race, trailing the Astros by 4 1/2 games in the American League West and the final AL Wild Card spot by 3 1/2 games, with 18 to play.

But most of the results over the past five days have been encouraging -- and players have mostly tied them back to Martinez.

¡°He's somebody that had done it at the highest level against the best competition,¡± Rodr¨ªguez said. ¡°And he was a DH who was a really smart hitter, and it's something that I feel like we all appreciate.¡±

The information-overload world that the modern game operates has opened a wealth of knowledge and spurned a slew of its own success stories. But Martinez has mostly let the Mariners¡¯ analytics staff oversee the dissemination of that material.

¡°I don't look at it that much,¡± Martinez said. ¡°I mean, for me, batting average, runs scored, RBIs, on-base percentage, those are the ones I look at. The other ones -- exit velocity, [launch] angle -- I don't care if you have an exit velocity of 120 [mph]. But if you have the wrong swing, you're going to hit for a low average and the production is not going to be that great.¡±

Martinez slashed a remarkable .312/.418/.515 (.933 OPS) over his 18-year career, all of which he spent in Seattle. Yet even though he¡¯s now 20 years removed from his playing days, he still draws on many of the things that made him successful.

¡°Because the game today is so mechanical,¡± Martinez said. ¡°There's so much emphasis on mechanics, that sometimes the hitters are thinking too much in mechanics when they should be thinking about the focus on a plan, an approach and just squaring the ball up -- not where my hands are, all this stuff, mechanics. When you think too much about mechanics, it can be difficult to hit the baseball.¡±

In most players¡¯ eyes, it¡¯s all about a blend.

¡°What I like is kind of getting the information, but knowing that once you step in those lines, it's just about having flow,¡± Rodr¨ªguez said, ¡°being on out there, having a good at-bat, knowing the situation, listening to what the game is asking you to do. I feel like those are the things that I like, just kind of knowing before, but then once you go into the game, it¡¯s go time.¡±

Added J.P. Crawford, who offered high praise of Martinez after Friday¡¯s win: ¡°I think, collectively, over the last couple months, we were going in with the plan that was way too complicated. And these last couple weeks, we've simplified everything and are just getting back to just trusting yourself.¡±

To be sure, former hitting coach Jarret DeHart was lauded within the clubhouse and regularly bounced ideas of Martinez when the Hall of Famer made his occasional pop-ins in his former role as an organizational hitting adviser. But as the Mariners faced a reckoning -- specifically to their offensive identity, and one that will assuredly continue this offseason -- they turned to a familiar but different voice.