Jordan Montgomery struck out six in seven scoreless innings to lead the Texas Rangers to a 2-0 win over the visiting Seattle Mariners on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
Montgomery walked two and scattered five hits for Texas (86-68), which won its fourth in a row. The Rangers held on to a narrow lead atop the American League West and will try to finish a three-game sweep on Sunday against their division rivals.
Dylan Moore and Julio Rodriguez had one double apiece, which marked the only extra-base hits for Seattle (84-70). The Mariners dropped two games behind the first-place Rangers with eight to play.
Montgomery (10-11), whom the Rangers acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals before the trade deadline, earned his second victory in his past three starts. The southpaw has allowed one earned run in his past 21 innings.
Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (13-7) took the loss after giving up two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out two.
Rangers right-hander Jose Leclerc entered the game in the eighth and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out two. He threw 14 of 18 pitches for strikes.
Leclerc gave way with one out in the ninth to hard-throwing left-hander Aroldis Chapman, who overcame shaky command to notch his sixth save of the season and No. 321 of his career. He moved into a tie with Jose Mesa for No. 21 on the all-time saves list.
The Rangers opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning. Adolis Garcia hit a one-out double to left field, advanced to third base on a groundout by Jonah Heim and came home to score on a single to right field by Mitch Garver.
In the fourth, the Rangers scored again to increase their advantage to 2-0. Garcia jump-started the action once again by drawing a two-out walk, stealing second base and scoring on Heim’s single to left field.
It was the 50th career stolen base for Garcia, who has been caught stealing only 11 times.
–Field Level Media