*Photo from Sportsnaut*
Right now, the Seattle Mariners are not a team that anyone wants to face right now. Eugenio Suarez drove in two runs, Ty France had a key two run single, and the Mariners defeated the Texas Rangers with a 6-5 victory on Thursday night in Arlington.
Finding themselves trailing 4-0 entering the 4th and 5-1 entering the 6th, the Mariners displayed an incredible trait they've been showing lately, which is comebacks. It's what's helped them win 11 straight and rocket into the playoff picture, now holding the second wild card spot in the AL playoff picture, and also holding second place in the AL West.
Mariners utility player Sam Haggerty said of the win streak that "You just feel like you can win every game at some point, and we’re kind of on one of those stretches. I don’t believe anybody in the dugout felt for a moment that we didn’t have a chance to come back."
Getting the start for the Mariners was Marco Gonzales, who allowed 5 runs on 11 hits and two walks over 6 innings pitched. After Gonzales, a bullpen combo of Matt Festa, Andres Munoz, and Diego Castillo was perfect, with Festa getting the win and Castillo getting the save.
The Rangers got going in the first inning, with RBI doubles from both Corey Seager and Jonah Heim, plus an RBI groundout from Nate Lowe, made it a 3-0 lead for the Rangers. A sac fly from Seager in the second made it a 4-0 game. In the 4th inning, Haggerty got the Mariners going when he legged out an inside the park homer, making it a 4-1 score.
One inning later in the 5th, Leody Taveras hit an RBI single into right field, scoring Heim to make it 5-1. In the 7th, Suarez dropped in an RBI single to left center field, scoring Haggerty and Julio Rodriguez to cut the deficit to 5-3. In the 8th, with the bases loaded, Rodriguez got hit by a pitch to force in another run. Haggerty and Abraham Toro then scored on a two run single from France to put the Mariners ahead 6-5.
Gonzales said after the game that "Even tonight when we were down, I mean, the energy in our dugout, the energy in our team all year long, we know who we are. We know how good we are and we’re never out of it. There’s no panic here."
Rangers all star pitcher Martin Perez got the start, allowing one run on 3 hits over 5 innings pitched. Garrett Richards pitched 1 1/3 innings while allowing two runs, with Matt Moore having to finish the inning. Dennis Santana, Brock Burke, and Josh Sborz also pitched.
Perez said of his start that "Sometimes you want to go deep and you just go five, that’s just what happened to me tonight. I wish I pitched a little bit better, but we’ll be fine. I got a lot of strikeouts with the fastballs in and cutters away, the changeups, too. As a pitcher, when you throw the pitch where you want it, you’re gonna get strikeouts. They have no choice, they have to swing when I’m throwing strikes."
Up next, the Mariners and Rangers continue their series on Friday night. Robbie Ray gets the start for the Mariners, while Matt Bush is lined up to start for the Rangers.
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