Rangers Lose To Mariners
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Seattle isn’t in the market for an ace, but J.A. Happ is turning some heads in the Mariners’ rotation.
The left-hander turned in his most dominating performance with Seattle and designated hitter Nelson Cruz continued to torture his former club in the Mariners’ 2-1 victory Tuesday night over the Texas Rangers.
Seattle (9-11) also clinched the series win and looks for the sweep in the finale of the three-game set Wednesday night with ace Felix Hernandez on the mound at Globe Like Park.
Happ improved to 2-1 after striking out nine — matching his total through his first three starts — in 6 2/3 innings. Happ allowed six hits and walked one.
The formula for success sounds simple enough after Happ’s fourth quality start of the season.
“Down in the zone for the most part, able to switch between going down and up pretty well,” he said. “Confidence is a huge thing, and just being aggressive with whatever pitch you’re going to throw.”
Cruz went 3-for-4 and has 11 hits in his last five games against the Rangers, the team he played for from 2006-13. He recorded a double and triple in the same game for only the second time in his
career and is hitting .329 this season.
Texas (7-13) came into the game with the lowest batting average in the American League and, despite seven hits, only managed to get four runners into scoring position.
Rangers manager Jeff Banister pointed to the inability to put the ball in play.
“We had 11 strikeouts tonight,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to string hits together. You have to be on base.”
That proved to be a struggle against Happ, who also evened his career record against Texas to 2-2.
“He kept them off balance all night, really commanded his fastball and curveball,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. “His velocity last year was right up there with all the top hard-throwing lefties. I don’t think he had his best velocity fastball tonight, but certainly had real good command.”
Five relievers came out of the Seattle bullpen to nail down the win, with closer Fernando Rodney pitching a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
Texas starter Ross Detwiler, working on extended rest after struggling through his first three starts, put in a solid effort and pitched into the sixth. The lanky left-hander allowed only two runs on five hits, while striking out five, in 5 1/3 innings in dropping to 0-3.
Banister called Detwiler’s outing progress.
“He kept his head on line,” Bannister said. “He threw more strikes really with his fastball. He was able to work his fastball in and out, had more angle. Breaking ball showed up well tonight. He mixed the changeup in a couple of different time.
“More than anything he controlled the strike zone for himself.”
The Rangers cut a two-run deficit in half in the seventh, chasing Happ on left fielder Delino DeShields’ two-out double to the left-center gap to score right fielder Jake Smolinski.
Deshields made a rare start in place of outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who’s been mired in a miserable slump all season.
Cruz beat up Detwiler early with a double and triple in his first two at-bats. The latter, which came in the fourth inning, led to the first run of the game when Cruz came home on third baseman Kyle Seagar’s infield groundout.
Left fielder Rickie Weeks followed with a towering home run to left to stake Happ to 2-0 lead.
Happ had the Rangers bats confused and swinging at air. The lefty struck racked up all his strikeouts through the first five innings, including the side in the fifth.
Cruz opened the second with a slicing double to right, but Detwiler left the inning unscathed despite loading the bases.
