Texas Rangers Tee Off on Seattle Mariners, Move Closer to Playoff Berth

The Texas Rangers lowered their magic number to win the American League West after finishing a Seattle Mariners sweep on Sunday.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas Rangers put on a show of power in their home finale, further strengthening their grip on a potential playoff berth.

The Rangers punished the Seattle Mariners with season-high six home runs before holding on for a 9-8 victory that finished off a huge three-game sweep at Globe Life Field.

Texas (87-68) have won five in a row and reduced their magic number to clinch the American League West to five with seven games to play. The Rangers hold a 2.5-game lead in the division over the Houston Astros, who were swept by the Kansas City Royals.

Corey Seager drilled his Rangers record 10th leadoff homer Sunday against Seattle / © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Texas came into Sunday with a 60% chance of winning the AL West and 90% odds of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs.

The Mariners (84-71) arrived in Arlington tied with the Rangers. Seattle leaves three games back and facing an uphill battle to reach the postseason.

Texas and the Mariners start a four-game series Thursday in Seattle close out the regular season. The Rangers have a three-game set at the Los Angeles Angels starting Monday.

Texas got long balls from Marcus Semien (two), Corey Seager, Adolis García, Leody Taveras and rookie Evan Carter. The six set a club record for Globe Life Field and were the most at home since 2018 when the Rangers played across the street at the former Globe Like Park.

Seager matched his career-high 33 homers set last season, his first with Texas. García extended his career-best campaign with his 36th dinger. Carter has four long balls in 16 games.

Rangers 9, Mariners 8

Notables from Sunday's series finale between Texas and Seattle.

Semien Extends Record

Marcus Semien crushed his 10th leadoff home run of the season, extending his club record in that department. The 433-foot blast to left-center off Bryan Woo staked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead.

There have only been 11 seasons in MLB history where a player has racked up at least 10 leadoff homers. Three have happened this year. In addition to Semien, Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies) have done it.

Semien added another solo shot in the four-run fourth, pushing his total to 27 on the season. He has three multi-homer games this year – all in September.

Eovaldi Gets Into Sixth

Nathan Eovaldi made his fifth start since returning from the injured list and gave the Rangers five solid innings before getting into trouble in the sixth.

The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs, forcing manager Bruce Bochy to turn to Martín Pérez. All three runners would score to close the gap to 7-5.

The Mariners drilled solo homers off Eovaldi in the second and third innings by Teoscar Hernandez and J.P. Crawford, respectively.

The Mariners made it interesting against Pérez and reliever Chris Stratton, but the Rangers held on. Jonathan Hernández, Brock Burke and Jose Leclerc got the last seven outs without surrendering a run.

Eovaldi improved to 12-4, good for the second-most wins in season in his career.

Home Sweet Home

The Rangers completed the season with a 50-31 home record, the best since a club record 53-27 in 2016.

It was the second-best home record in the American League and fourth-best in baseball. Texas won its last five games at home and seven of eight.

The Rangers also drew more than 2.5 million fans, the most since 2016. Attendance was up more than a half-million fans from last year.

Up Next

The Rangers open their last road trip of the season Monday night at the Los Angeles Angels. Texas send right-hander Jon Gray (8-8, 4.22) to the hill opposite lefty Patrick Sandoval (7-13, 4.19).

The Rangers are 5-5 against the Angels this season.

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