Defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers To Finish Under .500 After Loss To Seattle Mariners

The Texas Rangers are assured of finishing 2024 with a below .500 record after losing their second consecutive game to their AL West rival Seattle Mariners.

Sep 21, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers catcher Carson Kelly (18) misses a tag of Seattle Mariners outfielder Randy Arozarena (56) during the first inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images / Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

For the Texas Rangers, thankfully, they only have one game left against Julio Rodriguez.

The Seattle Mariners centerfielder burned the Rangers again with four hits, including a home run to lead his club to an 8-4 win on Saturday at Globe Life Field.

Dane Dunning, inserted as the Rangers' starting pitcher with Max Scherzer going on the injured list, surrendered the home run to Rodriguez on the first pitch of the game, as part of a two-run first inning for Seattle. Dunning was charged with two runs on seven hits and a walk and struck out five in 3 2/3 innings.

After Josh Smith's two-run homer in the third tied it at 2-2, Seattle scored three times in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead. Texas rallied with two runs in the bottom of the inning to pull to within 5-4, but the Mariners pulled away with three runs in the ninth against Walter Pennington, who allowed a double, a triple and a hit a batter left with two outs and two on before Rodriguez's two-run single against Gerson Garabito made it 8-4.

Three thoughts from Saturday's game:

1. With The Loss ...

Sep 21, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Fans support the Texas Rangers during the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images / Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

The defending World Series champion Rangers will finish with an under .500 record in 2024. With Saturday's loss, Texas dropped to 73-82. With seven games remaining, the best the Rangers could finish is 80-82. Texas plays its home finale against Seattle on Sunday before finishing with three at Oakland and three at Anaheim.

2. Julio Rodriguez, Rangers Killer

Sep 20, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez (44) is congratulated by shortstop J.P. Crawford (3) after his three-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the fifth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

How good has Julio Rodriguez, 23, been against the Rangers? He tied a season--high with four hits and has homered five times in his past five games against Texas and is slashing .388/.436/.837/1.273 (19-49) with seven homers, 17 RBI, five walks, and three stolen bases in 12 games against the Rangers this season. His seven homers against Texas are the most by a Texas opponent in 2024…He has three or more hits in consecutive games for the second time this season. His nine RBI in his past two games, the most by a Mariner over two games since Mike Zunino, who had nine on June 3-4, 2017.

3. Up Next

Aug 5, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Andrew Heaney (44) pitches against the Houston Astros during the first inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney (5-14, 3.89) faces Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (8-3, 2.85) in the series finale at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on X @StefanVersusTex.

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