Rangers Beat Mariners
SEATTLE — Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister went from happy to frustrated in a matter of seconds late Saturday night.
In the moments after a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over the Seattle Mariners, Banister was eager to talk about the game but kept getting asked about hobbled starter Yu Darvish, who will skip his Monday start to be re-evaluated by team doctors.
“What these guys did tonight was exceptional,” Banister said, raising his voice inside the office of the visiting clubhouse at Safeco Field. “There were so many things that happened tonight in that ballgame.”
The news that Darvish will skip a start to deal with neck and shoulder soreness might be bigger in the long run, but the Rangers made plenty of noise with their comeback win.
Rougned Odor hit a solo home run in the top of the 11th inning, two innings after teammate Prince Fielder extended the game with a two-out homer in the ninth, as the Rangers rallied.
“We needed this after dropping one (Friday night),” starter Colby Lewis said after
pitching eight strong innings but not factoring into the decision.
Odor homered off Seattle reliever Mike Montgomery (2-1) to give the Rangers their first lead of the night. Two spectacular defensive plays in the bottom of the 11th helped Texas finish off the win and give Sam Dyson his ninth save.
The Mariners (34-28) were one strike from winning in the top of the ninth, but Fielder hammered a 3-2 pitch from Seattle closer Steve Cishek into the right-field stands for a two-out homer that tied the score 1-1. Fielder single-handedly quieted a crowd that was bursting to explode.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said of hearing road stadium got quiet in the top of the ninth. “I don’t think they like it as much, the fans. I was just trying to get a good pitch and not miss it.”
The Rangers (38-24) opened a four-game lead atop the American League West. It marked just the second time in seven extra-inning games that Texas came out on top. Seattle fell to 5-2 in extra innings.
“They’re tough when you get that close at the end,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said.
No one was as frustrated as Cishek, who suffered his fourth blown save of the season and the third in his past six save opportunities.
“It was literally one pitch and it cost us the game,” Cishek said. “It was tough.”
The Mariners wasted a solid start from left-hander James Paxton, who threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Paxton allowed six hits and two walks while striking out seven. He struck out Fielder on a 98 mph fastball on his final pitch, No. 101 for the night.
Lewis barely avoided his first loss of the season on a night when he pitched one of his finest games. Lewis gave up one run and three hits in eight innings and was in line to suffer a tough-luck, complete-game loss before Fielder’s homer tied the score with two outs in the top of the ninth.
The Rangers threatened in the top of the 10th but ended up stranding runners on first and third when right fielder Nomar Mazara grounded out to shortstop.
Seattle left the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning. Shortstop Ketel Marte hit a long fly ball to right that was caught just in front of the warning track to end the inning.
After Odor gave Texas the 2-1 lead with his 10th home run of the season, Seattle threatened in the bottom of the 11th but came up short, stranding two runners on base.
Leadoff hitter Norichika Aoki was hit by a pitch, but the Mariners couldn’t move him to second base because Texas’ Mitch Moreland made a nice play to field a bunt and throw Aoki out at second. The next batter, Robinson Cano, drove a fly ball up the middle, but Texas center fielder Ian Desmond made a diving catch for the second out. After a Nelson Cruz infield single, Seattle’s Kyle Seager flied out to end the game.
Reliever Matt Bush (2-0) picked up the win after pitching a scoreless 10th.
“We came back out and proved that this team has great resiliency and stayed in the moment the entire time,” Banister said.
