Rangers Lose To Mariners
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ARLINGTON, Texas – One game after torturing the Texas Rangers with two home runs, Seattle designated hitter Kendrys Morales drove in the go-ahead run in the Mariners’ 4-2 win at Globe Life Park that began late Saturday night and ended early Sunday morning.
“We won, so it’s a good day,” Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said.
Seattle (78-63) upped its lead in the American League wild-card race to 1 1/2 games over the Detroit Tigers with its fifth straight win. The Mariners are also 15 games above .500 for the first time since 2007.
A two-run rally in the eighth inning proved for difference for the Mariners, who were down 2-0 going into the fifth inning. Morales followed his four-RBI performance in Friday’s 7-5 win with a one-out single to score left fielder Chris Denorfia for Seattle’s first lead.
First baseman Logan Morrison delivered another hit to bring hot-hitting third baseman Kyle Seager home for a 4-2 edge. The rally made a loser out of Texas reliever Neal Cotts (2-9).
Mariners closer Fernando Rodney worked a perfect ninth for his league-leading 43rd save.
The Rangers (53-89) have lost eight in a row, tying their longest losing streak of the
season. Texas is also 0-2 under interim manager Tim Bogar after Friday’s shocking resignation of Ron Washington.
Bogar, considered a candidate to keep the job, isn’t viewing his current position as temporary.
“My feeling is I’m the manager of the Texas Rangers and I’m going about it as if I’ll be the manager of the Texas Rangers next year,” he said before the game. “If they decide to go in a different direction, I’ll agree with it.
“But I want to be the manager of the Texas Rangers. I want to be here next year and help turn this around. We’ll be a better club next year with everybody coming back.”
Seager continued his barrage against Texas starter Nick Martinez with a two-run homer in the sixth inning — his career-high 23rd home run of the season — that tied the score 2-2. Seager is 6-9 (.667) against the Rangers right-hander in his career.
“He was great tonight offensively, but I’ve been saying all year I think he should seriously be considered for a good glove as well because what he does on the other side of the ball is just as important,” McClendon said. “Obviously, tonight he came up big for us with the two-run homer, but he’s turned into a complete player.”
The teams took the field after a rain delay that lasted more than three hours. The offense also took awhile to get going, as both sides wasted scoring chances in the early innings.
The Rangers did get on the board in the fourth thanks to an error that allowed catcher Tomas Telis to reach base. Left fielder Ryan Rua followed with a double. A sacrifice fly from right fielder Michael Choice scored Rua later in the inning for a 2-0 lead. Both runs off Seattle starting pitcher Chris Young were unearned.
That’s all the offense the Rangers managed. Texas was 0-10 with runners in scoring position.
“We’ve got to have better at-bats,” Bogar said. “Early in the game we had an opportunity to put some runs on the board and we just didn’t get it done.”
Martinez settled into a nice groove after some early trouble and mowed down seven straight batters at one point from the third into the fifth inning.
Seattle right fielder Endy Chavez returned to the lineup after leaving Friday’s game with a gash on his forehead that required three stitches.
