Mariners Defeat Rangers in Series Opener

Adolis Garcia hit his third home run of this road trip, but Seattle maintained its mastery over Texas.

The Texas Rangers waited until the ninth inning to put together a rally, but it still wasn’t enough as they lost to the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Monday night.

The Rangers (43-52) were coming of a victory over Oakland on Sunday in which they had 16 hits. Texas had hope there would be carryover to Monday’s game against Mariners starter Chris Flexen (7-8).

It didn’t start out that way against the Mariners, who have now defeated the Rangers six straight times dating back to June 15.

Flexen and the Mariners bullpen held the Rangers to four hits and two runs until the ninth inning, when Nathaniel Lowe’s solo home run off Mariners reliever Diego Castillo cut Seattle’s lead to a run. Leody Taveras followed with a single to right field. Kole Calhoun drew a walk on four pitches to put the lead run on first.

Castillo struck out Ezequiel Duran to finally record an out. The Mariners (52-45) pulled Castillo for Erik Swanson. Josh Smith popped out into foul territory for the second out. And Marcus Semien ended the game with a groundout to second.

Texas grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third as Duran led off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch by Flexen. The Rangers stranded two runners later in the inning, which cost them the lead in the bottom of the fourth.

Ty France singled off Rangers starter Glenn Otto (4-7). After Otto retired Carlos Santana, Eugenio Suárez singled to move France to third, who scored on Cal Raleigh’s line drive to right to tie the game. The Mariners then took the lead when Otto’s wild pitch allowed Suárez to score from third.

France added to the lead with a solo home run off Otto in the fifth.

Otto put together a workmanlike outing, pitching 5 1/3 innings and giving up seven hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out five. He left the game in the sixth inning with one man on base and one out, as Brock Burke got the Rangers out of the jam.

Rangers right fielder Adolis García hit his third home run of the road trip on a solo shot off Flexen in the top of the sixth, which cut Seattle’s lead to 3-2.

But in the bottom of the seventh, the Mariners grabbed some insurance off Burke. Sam Haggerty singled, J.P. Crawford walked and Burke hit France to load the bases. Burke got Carlos Santana to ground out to Duran at third, who threw to second and forced France out. But Haggerty scored to push the Mariners’ lead to 4-2.

Dennis Santana came on in relief of Burke to get the final out of the seventh.

The Rangers announced right as Monday’s game began that they had signed former Cy Young pitcher Dallas Keuchel to a minor-league contract. Keuchel will report to Triple-A Round Rock later this week. Keuchel has pitched for the Chicago White Sox and the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, and has a 2-7 record with an 8.53 ERA.

The Rangers continue their three-game series with the Mariners on Tuesday when Dane Dunning is expected to be activated from the injured list to start for the Rangers against Seattle’s George Kirby. Jon Gray is the Rangers’ expected starter for Wednesday’s finale, with the Mariners set to start Marco Gonzalez.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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