Rangers Beat Mariners
SEATTLE — Showing no sign of lingering damage, Cole Hamels nonchalantly pointed to a spot on his left shoulder while providing a shrug late Tuesday night. One of the most important pieces to the Texas Rangers’ pennant run has survived a scary moment, and the only real damage came to Houston’s lead atop the American League West.
Hamels survived a line drive to the shoulder and a shaky seventh inning while pitching the Rangers to a 9-6 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Texas (73-64) moved to within a game of division-leading Houston for the first time since April 18.
“It’ll feel good when we wake up in the morning,” manager Jeff Banister said, “but we’ve still got a ways to go.”
What might not feel so good is the spot where a screaming line drive off the bat of Seattle’s Jesus Sucre hit Hamels in Tuesday’s third inning. The comebacker initially looked like it hit Hamels on the left side of his jaw, but the veteran lefty insisted afterward that he took the liner to his shoulder.
“I’ve been hit a few times; it’s the nature of the game,” said Hamels, who stayed in the game and pitched seven strong innings to earn his third win since being traded from Philadelphia. “Luckily enough, (Sucre’s ball) hit the only muscle I have on me. I’m sure I’ll have a nice bruise.”
Hamels (3-1) allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings, with four of the hits and three of the runs coming in his final inning.
The Rangers (73-64) matched their season high for home runs in a game while
pulling within a game of Houston, which lost 4-0 to the Oakland A’s.
Rangers right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, first baseman Mitch Moreland, second baseman Rougned Odor and left fielder Joey Gallo all went deep on a night when Seattle starter Taijuan Walker couldn’t get an out past the third inning. Walker (10-8) gave up three of the homers as Texas jumped out to a 6-1 lead.
“He threw a clunker,” Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. “He wasn’t very good.”
Seattle mounted a comeback with a four-run seventh, and then second baseman Robinson Cano took reliever Jake Diekman deep for a 419-foot, two-run homer to pull the Mariners within 8-6 in the eighth. It was Cano’s 15th home run of the season, surpassing his total from last season.
Despite the rally, the Mariners (66-73) couldn’t prevent Hamels from earning his third win as a Ranger and his ninth of the season.
Closer Shawn Tolleson pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 31st save of the season.
“We battled back, but that’s awfully hard,” McClendon said. “… Just a little bit too much to overcome.”
The Rangers survived a major scare in the bottom of the third inning, when Sucre sent a screaming liner back to the mound. The ball glanced off Hamels’ glove before striking him on the upper part of his shoulder, knocking the big left-hander to the ground.
Hamels was able to get up and offer a chuckle and a shake of the head. A team trainer came rushing out of the dugout as Hamels was seen telling third baseman Adrian Beltre, “I’m fine.”
After throwing a few warmup pitches, Hamels was able to stay in the game.
“As he was going down, it looked like he’d lost his balance,” Banister said afterward. “He let us know pretty quickly that he was OK.”
Home runs by Moreland, Choo and Odor helped the Rangers jump out to a 6-1 lead while chasing Walker.
Moreland hit a 2-0 pitch from Walker into the seats in right-center field for a second-inning solo homer, then Choo added a three-run shot in the third for a 4-0 lead. Choo’s one-out blast was his 17th home run of the season.
Seattle got a run back in the bottom of the third after Sucre’s single off Hamels loaded the bases with no outs. Hamels got a strikeout before Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager cut the deficit to 4-1 with an RBI groundout.
Odor then took Walker deep on a two-run shot in the top of the fourth, putting the Rangers ahead 6-1 while ending the Seattle starter’s night. Walker allowed six runs — five earned — on six hits over three-plus innings. The three home runs allowed matched a career high for the 23-year-old rookie.
“Today had nothing to do with innings,” McClendon said after Walker’s season total for innings reached a career-high 162 2/3. “It was a bad outing.”
