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 The Texas Rangers rallied with two outs in the ninth inning to beat
Seattle 3-2 at Globe Like Park. Center fielder Leonys Martin
delivered the winning hit off Mariners closer Fernando Rodney.
Seattle ace Felix Hernandez was in line for the win after outdueling
Texas counterpart Yu Darvish for the majority of the night. Instead,
the Rangers improved to 8-7 this season and 4-2 on their current
10-game homestand.
The Rangers lead the majors with four walk-off victories this
season.
"Tremendous," Texas manager Ron Washington said after the win.
"That's why you play nine innings. Those kinds of wins build
character. We have a new group that we're playing with, and they
learn how to hang together and play the game until the third out is
made."
The game-deciding surge began after Rodney easily dispatched the
first two Texas batters in the bottom of the ninth. Third baseman
Kevin Kouzmanoff singled as the ball squirted away from shortstop
Brad Miller.
Designated hitter Mitch Moreland followed with a walk before Miller
came into play again. After fielding a grounder from pinch-hitter
Donnie Murphy, Miller's underhand toss to second was high and pulled
Robinson Cano off the bag.
After a wild pitch by Rodney allowed Texas to tie the score, Martin
lined a soft single to left to win it.
"Rodney did a great job for us," Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon
said. "It's unfortunate we made the error there. That's baseball.
Things happen. Over the course of a 162-game schedule, you're going
to win your share of those and you're going to lose your share."
Hernandez was bidding for a 4-0 start after giving up one run and
four hits in seven innings. He struck out nine and has fanned 39
batters in the four games, which is a career high to open a season.
Darvish rebounded after a shaky start to finish with a solid
seven-inning performance. After two scoreless games to open his
season, Darvish gave up two runs, seven hits and two walks.
Darvish racked up eight strikeouts and did not allow a hit in his
last four innings, but the Rangers' offense struggled again with its
No. 1 on the mound. Darvish had yet to throw a pitch this season
with any Texas runs on the board.
The Rangers needed more than seven innings to post a run against
Hernandez. Martin tripled to lead off the eighth, his first
extra-base hit of the season.
That ended the night for Hernandez, who threw 96 pitches and walked
one. Pinch-hitter Michael Choice's sacrifice fly scored Martin to
cut the Seattle lead in half.
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"I knew it was going to be a tough game. They have my number,"
said Hernandez, who is 12-20 lifetime against Texas. "I was on. I
made good pitches. I made one mistake in the game and that was that
fastball to Leonys."
Hernandez was the sharper of the two starters through the early
going. He struck out seven through five scoreless innings, allowing
just three hits.
Darvish did not have the command and sharpness he displayed through
his first two starts. A couple of mound visits — one from pitching
coach Mike Maddux and another by catcher Robinson Chirinos — were
needed to calm Darvish down.
"After that, we were able to get on the same page and throw a lot of
effective breaking balls," Darvish said through a translator.
The 27-year-old right-hander ran into trouble in the second and gave
up his first runs of the season. The Mariners scored twice on three
hits and a walk.
Designated hitter Nick Franklin got things going with a one-out
triple, and catcher Mike Zunino and center fielder Abraham Almonte
each delivered two-out RBI singles.
NOTES: Texas came into the game alternating wins and losses over the
previous 10 games. The Rangers owned one two-game winning streak and
one two-game losing streak. ... Seattle had made just one error in
the 11 games going into Wednesday, with none in the previous four
games. ... Texas leads MLB with four shutouts, including three on
the current homestand. ... The Mariners are 7-0 in games in which
they hit a home run and 0-7 when they don't. ... Each of Texas'
seven home runs have come from a different player.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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