Rookie Julio Rodriguez belted a grand slam to highlight his five-RBI performance on Friday, fueling the visiting Seattle Mariners to their 12th straight victory with an 8-3 win over the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.
Robbie Ray (8-6) matched a season high by striking out 12 batters. The reigning American League Cy Young Award recipient allowed three runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 4-0 in his last eight starts.
Seattle’s Adam Frazier had an RBI single and joined Cal Raleigh in registering two hits and two runs. Eugenio Suarez also drove in a run for the Mariners, who are three victories shy of matching the franchise-record winning streak set in 2001.
Texas’ Corey Seager continued to tune up for the upcoming Home Run Derby by going deep for the seventh time in his last 10 games. Leody Taveras belted a two-run shot in the seventh inning for the Rangers, who fell to 2-6 against Seattle this season.
Taveras’ third homer of the season trimmed the Mariners’ lead to 4-3 before Seattle answered by loading the bases in the eighth inning. Jose Leclerc struck out the first two batters he faced before Rodriguez deposited a 3-2 fastball over the wall in center field for his team high-tying 16th homer of the season.
Taylor Hearn (4-6), who was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock earlier on Friday, relieved opener Matt Bush and struck out five batters before running into trouble in the fourth inning.
Suarez ripped a one-out double, advanced to third on Raleigh’s single and opened the scoring on Frazier’s base hit to left-center field.
Seattle doubled the advantage after Justin Upton’s grounder sailed past third baseman Charlie Culberson. Rodriguez stepped up three batters later and singled to left field to plate Frazier and give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.
Suarez’s sacrifice fly scored Ty France in the fifth inning before Seager answered in the sixth, sending a 2-2 curveball from Ray over the wall in center field for his team-leading 22nd homer.
Texas inched closer in the seventh after Nathaniel Lowe singled and Taveras deposited a 2-1 sinker from Ray over the wall in right field.
–Field Level Media