Ty France’s two-run single in a three-run eighth inning rallied the Seattle Mariners to an 11th straight victory, 6-5 over the Texas Rangers, on Thursday night in Arlington, Texas.
The Mariners, who last lost on July 1, entered the eighth inning trailing by two runs. With the bases loaded, Julio Rodriguez was hit by a pitch from Dennis Santana, making it a one-run game. Left-hander Brock Burke was brought in to face France and surrendered the two-run single.
Diego Castillo closed it out for the Mariners, recording his sixth save by retiring Adolis Garcia on a fly ball to left field, stranding Marcus Semien on second base and Corey Seager on first.
Matthew Festa (2-0) was awarded the win, with Santana (3-5) taking the loss.
Seattle’s Sam Haggerty went 3-for-4 and had an inside-the-park home run in the fourth inning.
Mariners starter Marco Gonzales dealt with plenty of traffic on the bases, giving up 11 hits and two walks. Still, the left-hander was able to minimize damage, giving up five runs.
Rangers All-Star left-hander Martin Perez grinded out five innings, allowing just one run on three hits, with nine strikeouts. Perez was in line for a win until the Mariners’ late-inning heroics.
Seager, added to the American League All-Star team as a reserve on Thursday, jump-started the Rangers with an RBI double in a three-run first inning. Jonah Heim delivered a run-scoring double in the inning, and Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI groundout brought home the third run.
The Rangers made it a four-run lead in the second inning. Elier Hernandez singled in his first major-league at-bat, and he scored on Seager’s sacrifice fly.
Seattle was able to break through against Perez in the fourth inning, on Haggerty’s inside-the-park home run.
Texas tacked on another run in the fifth inning, building a new four-run advantage. Heim doubled and scored on Taveras’ RBI single.
The Mariners chipped back with two runs in the seventh inning, on Eugenio Suarez’s two-run single.
–Field Level Media