The Texas Rangers rolled into Safeco Field with a world of momentum and an eye on securing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
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Home runs by Dae-Ho Lee and Kyle Seager led another big offensive night from the Seattle Mariners, who took three out of four from the Texas Rangers with a 6-3 win on Thursday night.Lee hit his 14th home run of the season with a solo shot in the second inning, then Seager delivered a two-run shot to open up a 6-3 lead in the seventh.Seattle (72-68) had 11 hits in the win. “We’ve got some things to work on”. Offensively, Robinson Cano leads Seattle with 171 hits, Kyle Seager has 88 RBI and Nelson Cruz has 35 home runs. Holland is 12-5 with a 3.56 ERA and 124 strikeouts in his career against the Mariners.
“Not a good night when you throw like 100 and something pitches in 4 1/3 or whatever it was”, Mariners manager Scott Servais said.
MINUS: Robinson Cano had a walk in four plate appearances, but his hitting streak ended at 11 games… In a game where the lines are so low, I have to side with the hotter team that consistently hits the ball. The Detroit Tigers scored 36 runs in a 2000 series at Seattle. “But you look up at the end of it he’s still got 20 homers, he’s had some games like this where he can really carry you”. The Rangers still hold an 8 1/2-game lead on the second-place Houston Astros in the AL West. Lewis’ return will give the Rangers six pitchers in their rotation for the final few weeks.
Seattle Mariners’ Chris Iannetta hits a two-run double during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in Seattle. Holland is 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA in three starts since coming off the DL on August 23.
NY moved within two games of Baltimore for the second AL wild card and four games of AL East-leading Boston. Derek Norris added a two-run homer in the eighth. Rougned Odor added another run with a two-out, RBI single, but Walker escaped with just two runs of damage.
Seattle will turn to Taijuan Walker (4-10, 4.60 ERA) tonight.
Evan Scribner and Nick Vincent combined for three scoreless innings and rookie Edwin Diaz pitched a flawless ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances. The left-handed hitting Aoki, batting.265 in 98 games with Seattle, was sent down because the Mariners were set to face several left-handers and Aoki would have received little playing time during that stretch.
In the fifth, Desmond’s leadoff home run, his 21st long ball of the season, pulled the Rangers within 4-3.
Seattle second: Dae-Ho Lee hit his fourth home run of the year against the Rangers. Lind connected for a GRAND SLAM in the bottom of the first inning, giving Seattle a 5-run lead over Texas.
The Mariners loaded the bases with one out later in the inning on singles by Shawn O’Malley and Guillermo Heredia and a walk to Franklin Gutierrez – but they got nothing. He walked two and struck out three.
“The first couple innings, it was weird, felt awkward, just a little bit off, but I stuck with it”, Walker said.
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Rangers: RHP Colby Lewis (6-1, 3.21), on the 60-day DL (right shoulder muscle strain) since June 22, is listed as the probable starter for Sunday against the Angels. RHP Yu Darvish is scheduled to start Friday, followed by LHP Cole Hamels on Saturday.
