Mariners continue to keep playoff hopes alive

ARLINGTON, Texas — Julio Rodríguez homered on the first pitch and had a tiebreaking RBI single in the sixth inning of his four-hit game, and the wild card-chasing Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 on Saturday night.

The Mariners (80-75) pulled within 1 1/2 games of Minnesota for the third AL wild card after the Twins were rained out in Boston. Detroit is a half-game behind Minnesota.

Seattle, which had a 10-game lead in the AL West in mid-June but now trails Houston by five with seven games remaining, is five games over .500 for the first time in more than a month.

“I think there’s a good feeling going on in here,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “I think the guys as a collective group are fighting together and there’s a lot of confidence going.”

The seventh leadoff homer of the season for the Mariners, and the first for Rodríguez, came off Dane Dunning, who started for Max Scherzer when the three-time Cy Young Award winner was scratched.

Scherzer was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, ending the season for the 40-year-old right-hander who is on an expiring contract. Various health issues limited Scherzer to nine starts.

Josh Smith hit a tying two-run homer in the third for the Rangers a night after the defending World Series champions were eliminated from postseason contention. The loss clinched a seventh losing record in the past eight seasons for Texas (73-82).

After homering twice in Seattle’s 8-2 victory in the series opener, Rodríguez sent his 19th of the season to the opposite field in right on a 90 mph sinker from Dunning, who allowed seven hits and two runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Rodríguez, who had four RBI, gave Seattle a 3-2 lead with the first of three consecutive run-scoring singles off José Leclerc in the sixth. Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena followed with theirs. Rodríguez added a two-run single in the ninth.

“He’s just proving time and time again that he’s hitting the ball hard,” Wilson said. “He’s able to leave in any part of the ballpark. Going to right field to start the game was a big lift.”

Leclerc had replaced Andrew Chafin (4-3), who allowed the first three batters to reach in the sixth.

Arozarena preserved Seattle’s 5-4 lead with a sprinting catch of a bases-loaded liner from Marcus Semien with two out in the sixth.

Dylan Moore made a lunging catch for Seattle on Nathaniel Lowe’s smash down the line at first with one out and two on in the seventh. Moore had moved from second base after Justin Turner fouled a pitch off his foot and left the game following his inning-ending groundout in the sixth.

Austin Voth struck out Smith with runners at the corners to end the eighth when the lead was still one run. Emerson Hancock (4-4) allowed two runs in five innings.

“We did have a lot of chances,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “One hit changes the whole game, changes the score. Tough luck. Marcus smokes that ball, bases loaded. That’s all you can do.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: OF Victor Robles was out of the lineup with an injured right middle finger that made gripping a bat and throwing difficult. But Robles did replace Polanco as a pinch runner in the ninth after Polanco’s third hit. Robles scored from second base when he broke for third on a steal and scored on Walter Pennington’s wild pitch.

Rangers: 3B Josh Jung has been sidelined for three games because of soreness in his surgically repaired right wrist. Jung missed three months after the wrist was fractured when he was hit by a pitch in the fourth game of the season.

UP NEXT

Seattle RHP Bryan Woo (8-3, 2.45 ERA) faces LHP Andrew Heaney (5-14, 3.89 ERA) in the series finale and Texas’ final home game of the season.