Field Level Media
Sep 23, 2018
Pinch hitter Joey Gallo hit a two-run homer, and four Texas pitchers combined for five innings of scoreless relief as the Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-1 Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
Left-handers Jeffrey Springs (1-1) and Matt Moore and right-handers Chris Martin and Jose Leclerc combined to allow four hits. Springs earned his first major league victory after tossing two innings.
Nomar Mazara hit a two-run double to give the Rangers the lead as they batted around in a four-run sixth. Texas (66-89) rebounded from a 13-0 loss Saturday night to take two of three games in the weekend series.
Trailing 4-1, the Mariners (85-70) threatened in the eighth against Martin as Jean Segura and Robinson Cano opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Segura took third on Nelson Cruz's flyout to center. Martin then caught Ryon Healy looking at a called third strike and got Kyle Seager to ground out to end the inning.
Mariners left-hander Wade LeBlanc (8-5) opened with five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Elvis Andrus led off the inning with a double to left field, and Rougned Odor walked on a 3-2 pitch. Mazara's double to center field gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead and ended LeBlanc's afternoon.
Right-hander Nick Vincent replaced LeBlanc and also struggled. Robinson Chirinos grounded a single to center to score Mazara. Ronald Guzman and Ryan Rua followed with singles to load the bases with no outs.
Left-hander James Pazos replaced Vincent and got the first out of the inning on Carlos Tocci's sacrifice fly to right field that scored Chirinos to make it 4-1. Shin-Soo Choo grounded into a forceout for the second out. The Mariners then brought in right-hander Matt Festa, who struck out Jurickson Profar to end the inning.
Gallo hit his two-run shot in the eighth, his 39th of the season, to cap the scoring.
The Mariners got their only run in the third inning. Kristopher Negron led off with an infield single and scored on Guillermo Heredia's double to right field.
The Rangers' starter, left-hander Martin Perez, allowed one run on two hits in four innings. Perez didn't walk a batter and struck out one.
--Field Level Media