*Photo from the Daily World*
What a night for Yusei Kikuchi. Kikuchi struck out 7 hitters, JP Crawford homered, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers by a 6-3 score. Kikuchi allowed just two hits in one of his best outings of the year, improving Seattle's record to 16-22.
The Mariners started the scoring in the second inning, when newly acquired Ty France hit an RBI single to center field to make it 1-0. In the 4th, Evan White hit a two run double to left field to extended the Mariners lead to 3-0. In the 5th, the Rangers got on the board thanks to a Jose Trevino solo homer, making it 3-1 Mariners. It stayed that way until the 8th inning, when Crawford launched a 3 run homer to right field, breaking the game open and making it 6-1 Mariners. In the 9th, Nick Solak hit a sac fly and Joey Gallo hit an RBI single for the Rangers to make it 6-3, but Seattle was able to hang on from there.
Kikuchi got the win for Seattle, increasing his record to 2-2 on the season. Kikuchi threw 6 innings, allowing one run on two hits and one walk, striking out 7 hitters. It was hardly smooth sailing for Kikuchi, however, as he found himself in lots of 3-0 counts. Kikuchi said of that situation after the game that ''On those counts, I just have a lot of confidence in my cutter, today especially, at times I can kind of tell the hitters may be looking for that pitch, but I have a lot of confidence with it and I still think I can get people out with it.''
Contributions from young players like France, White, and Crawford, were a big reason why Seattle was able to get the win, and manager Scott Servais knew it. Servais said after the game that ''We have a lot of young players with a lot to prove, and certainly when you bring guys in from a new organization they want to contribute, they want to fit in and win. So a lot of good things are going on.''
Kyle Cody took the loss for the Rangers, falling to 0-1 on the season. Cody threw 3 innings, allowing one run on one hit and two walks, striking out two hitters. The Rangers have had a lot of road losses this season, and that continued, as they have just 4 wins away from Globe Life Field. John King, Wes Benjamin, Jimmy Herget, and Taylor Hearn also pitched for the Rangers.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said of the team's approach to Kikuchi after the game that ''We knew what he was going to do, he threw the fastball with the cutter and we just kept pounding it into the ground to the pull side. We've got to find a way to put a little bit more pressure on the other team. You're not going to win too many games if you have one baserunner through eight innings.''
The series continues on Saturday, where the Rangers will start Kyle Gibson in hopes of a bounce back. Lefty Justus Sheffield draws the start for Seattle.
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