SEATTLE (AP) — Kole Calhoun lined up a two-out RBI double to score Adolis García in the ninth, García made a terrific late-inning diving catch and the Texas Rangers rallied from an early five-deficit points for beating the Seattle Mariners 8-6 Thursday night.
Texas snapped a five-game losing streak and avoided being swept by the Mariners by taking advantage of a sloppy Seattle defense and getting Calhoun’s hit.
“We have good veteran leadership here. We have young talents. We have guys who are hungry to go play and prove who they are in the big leagues,” Calhoun said. “So it’s a fun group to be around. I know we didn’t have the best start, but it’s wins like these that you can build on and teach a team a lot about who they are.
García scored two outs in the ninth against Seattle’s Drew Steckenrider. Calhoun followed a 2-2 pitch one-liner down the right field line, and García scored first without a pitch.
Nathanial Lowe followed with an RBI single against Steckenrider (0-1) for a two-run lead.
Joe Barlow (1-0) picked up the win by striking out Tom Murphy with the bases loaded to finish the eighth inning and pitched a perfect ninth.
García helped close it from center field by sprinting back and to his right and extending fully for Julio Rodríguez’s line drive for the second out.
García said he looked forward to playing opportunities like this.
“Adolis’ game in the ninth was Superman,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said.
Seattle scored five times in the first inning against Texas starter Taylor Hearn thanks to home runs from Ty France and JP Crawford. But the Mariners did nothing else offensively until the eighth inning when Eugenio Suárez doubled a two-out RBI single against Matt Bush to score Adam Frazier with the tying run.
The Mariners were shaky defensively with three errors, including two by shortstop JP Crawford in the fifth inning that helped lead to four unearned runs.
“It’s all on me. If I make those two plays, we’re out of there,” Crawford said.
Crawford’s first mistake in the set led to Eli White scoring on Corey Seager’s sacrificial volley.
Crawford’s second error allowed Mitch Garver to reach with two outs. García doubled Seattle starter Marco Gonzales to make the Rangers 5-4 and Nick Solak hit Gonzales’ first pitch into left-field relievers for a two-run homer to give Texas a 6-5 lead.
It was the second time in his career that Crawford had made two errors in one game.
“We should have won today. This game is on me,” Crawford said.
Gonzales pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, but only two of the six runs were earned. He also struck out six, but it was his second outing this season that escalated after a defensive error.
“At this time, I’m proud to be able to step forward and get us back into the dugout and unfortunately I couldn’t do that,” Gonzales said. “So I put this on myself so I could keep throwing throws and unfortunately I couldn’t make it.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers: Texas will be without RHP Jon Gray for at least one start after spraining his left knee. Gray was injured when he left Tuesday night against Seattle. Gray said the injury occurred on the first pitch of the game when he left the mound reacting to a false bunt attempt. He finished five innings against the Mariners.
Mariners: Seattle received good news as no other players or coaching staff tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday after several days of players and staff being affected by the virus. Manager Scott Servais continued to participate in meetings and game planning virtually, caretaker manager Kristopher Negrón said.
NEXT
Rangers: RHP Glenn Otto (0-0, 0.00) is expected to be brought in from Triple-A Round Rock to start Friday night against Oakland in Game 1 of a three-game series. Otto made his major league debut last season with the Rangers, going 0-3 with a 9.26 ERA in six starts.
Mariners: RHP Chris Flexen (0-2, 5.23) starts as Seattle opens a series against Kansas City. Flexen gave up three runs in six innings but took the loss in his last start against Houston.
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