Seattle Mariners Offense Dominates in 9-2 Win Over Texas Rangers
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SEATTLE — Through the first 14 games of the season, the Seattle Mariners had yet to have a game that featured a quality start and a dominant offensive outing. They had both in a 9-2 win against the Texas Rangers on Saturday. The win improved the Mariners to 7-8 on the season and gave them their second consecutive series win — both against American League West rivals.
Seattle went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded just four in the victory. Texas went 3-for-9 and left six on.
"We saw some really good at-bats earlier (this season) that just weren't able to covert," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview. "We had a lot of opportunities early where we hit line drives and we saw a lot of diving plays on defense by the other's team. And now we're starting to find those holes and hit the balls hard. ... It's been there. We haven't been able to find the holes, and now we've been able to find it."
The Mariners' starting pitcher, Bryan Woo, had to fight through some early-game struggles before settling into his usual elite form.
Woo loaded the bases in the first inning and threw 27 pitches. Josh Smith hit an RBI single to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. It was the only run for the Rangers until the ninth inning. It was the second time in as many days Texas loaded the bases in the first inning. Saturday was the only run to come out of those situations.
Woo bounced back and threw seven innings. He struck out seven, walked one and allowed six hits in 91 pitches. It was his second quality start of the season.
"Especially early on — very uncharacteristic, I guess, of just falling behind and getting off to a bad start," Woo said after the game. "I feel like, (I) really try to pride myself on — especially in the first inning — you set the tone for the game. Getting ahead, that type of stuff. So not necessarily like pitch command and pitch shapes, but it's more of counts and winning those counts and being ahead early and often. ... So it definitely means a lot to have that rough first inning and then build off of it for the rest of the game."
Bryan Woo, Inadvertent 96mph Paint. 🖌️🎨 pic.twitter.com/pLETMrxSTU
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 13, 2025
Seattle's offense rewarded its starter with a four-run third inning. Julio Rodriguez kicked off the scoring with an RBI triple to tie the game 1-1. Jorge Polanco scored Rodriguez the next at-bat with a sacrifice fly, Cal Raleigh got home on a passed ball and Luke Raley capped off the inning with an RBI double. Rodriguez finished 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Raleigh bought the Mariners more breathing room with his second homer in as many games in the bottom of the fifth. It was his team-leading fourth of the season. He went 2-for-3 with three runs, a walk and an RBI.
💣 CRUSHED 💣 pic.twitter.com/lLJxjmsXV7
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 13, 2025
Seattle put a solid cap on the game with another four-score inning in the seventh. Raley had his game-high second and third RBIs via a single to bring the Mariners' lead to 7-1. He finished 2-for-3 with a run, a walk and three RBIs.
Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run double the next at-bat that was nearly a triple to give Seattle its final runs of the game.
Rangers first baseman Jake Burger hit an RBI single in the top of the ninth for the eventual final of 9-2.
Saturday was the first Mariners win of the season that wasn't a walk-off or saved by Andres Munoz.
Seattle will have a chance to earn its first series sweep of the season at 1:10 p.m. PT on Sunday at T-Mobile Park. Logan Gilbert will start for the Mariners and Nathan Eovaldi will start for Texas.
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