Mariners Edge Rangers
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Kyle Seager provided yet another big moment for the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
The third baseman collected his second go-ahead hit of the series to propel the Mariners to a 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers.
Seager, who hit a two-run homer Friday in Seattle’s 3-1 win, lifted the Mariners with a two-out double in the ninth off Joe Nathan to score Endy Chavez.
“Anytime that you get down 0-2 against a guy like him, you just have to stay calm and not let his good stuff get you overly excited,” said Seager, who got the count to 1-2 and fouled off two pitches before driving in the game-winner. “I stayed calm and stayed with my approach. When you let your emotions get into it, you can psych yourself out.”
Seattle (57-66) clinched its second series win in August by taking the rubber match of a three-game set with the Rangers. The Mariners improved to 3-3 during a nine-game road trip that concludes with a three-game series with the Oakland A’s beginning Monday.
“Anytime you can win a series in the rubber game it is huge,” Seager said, “especially
on the road against a team in your division.”
Texas, on the other hand, dropped its first series of the month after taking the previous three and splitting of a two-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Rangers (71-53) continue their nine-game homestand when they host the Houston Astros beginning Monday.
Entering a tie game in the ninth inning, Nathan (2-3) gave up a leadoff single to Endy Chavez, and Humberto Quintero bunted the runner to second. After Brad Miller fouled out, Nick Franklin walked, and Seager doubled to right to score the decisive run.
Rangers starter Yu Darvish and Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez but pitched well, but neither factored into the decision.
Darvish threw 7 1/3 innings and struck out seven, following up a performance in which he struck out 15 Astros. Darvish was responsible for three runs on seven hits and four walks Sunday.
“My slider wasn’t working too well today,” Darvish said. “In many games, I have had trouble with my command, but today it happened to be after the sixth inning.”
Three of Darvish’s walks came from the fifth through eighth innings.
“He just lost his command,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “He was able to pitch around a few innings but lost it later in the start.”
Ramirez earned his first-career quality start and exited with a 3-2 lead, but he was left with a no-decision when Yoervis Medina blew the lead in the eighth. Ramirez allowed just four hits and two runs (one earned) in a career-high seven innings.
“I had better command today,” Ramirez said. “I used a lot of changeups. … I was able to mix it up and throw the right pitch at the right location.”
Ramirez lowered his ERA from 7.06 to 5.94.
Rangers reliever Robbie Ross was unable to pick Darvish up after the starter departed with runners on first and second in the eighth. Ross gave up a two-out hit to Dustin Ackley to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead.
Texas came right back in the bottom half, with Craig Gentry scoring from first on a double by Elvis Andrus.
Medina (4-3) picked up the win despite giving up a run in the eighth. Danny Farquhar threw a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save of the season.
After four scoreless innings to begin the day, the teams broke through in the fifth and sixth by exchanging runs.
“We were battling,” Seager said. “This was a close and tight game. We were able to get on the board, and they matched us every inning, which speaks to the resiliency of their team, too.”
The Rangers stayed in the game despite being outhit 10-5.
Michael Saunders had three hits for the Mariners, including an RBI double in the sixth inning. Quintero and Ackley added two hits apiece.
