Inside The Mariners

Seattle Mariners Win 8th Consecutive Series With 2-1 Triumph Over Texas Rangers

Luis Castillo had his second quality start in a row to lift the Mariners to their fifth consecutive win against the Rangers.
Teren Kowatsch|
Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford celebrates after a home run against the Texas Rangers on May 3 at Globe Life Field.
Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford celebrates after a home run against the Texas Rangers on May 3 at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

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The Seattle Mariners had their lowest-scoring game since April 18, but that was enough to prevail 2-1 over the Texas Rangers on Saturday. It was the Mariners' fifth-straight win against the Rangers, and was their eighth consecutive series win. They improved to 20-12 with the victory

J.P. Crawford got Seattle out to an early lead with a first-pitch, solo home run to right field in the top of the first.

Crawford's homer was enough to support a quality start from Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo.

Castillo pitched six innings, struck out two, walked two and allowed one earned run on four hits. It was the Castillo's second consecutive quality start and his third in seven outings this season.

"It's been a lot of fun in there," Castillo said via translator Freddy Llanos in a postgame interview. "You can tell we're all having fun and we're just enjoying this good moment that's happening to us as a team. ... (I) worked a lot on the four-seam, the two-seam and the slider. We worked on the changeup a little bit. But we tried to focus on the other three pitches a lot. Both of the fastballs were working well and gave us some good results there."

Rangers catcher Jonah Heim hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 1-1.

The two sides remained knotted up until the final inning. Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI single in the top of the ninth to score Jorge Polanco. That hit gave Seattle the eventual final of 2-1.

In between Heim's single in the fourth and Tellez's in the ninth, Mariners reliever Matt Brash entered in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was his first appearance since Sept. 30, 2023, due to him recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Brash struck out one batter and allowed one hit. He faced the minimum after generating an inning-ending double play.

"I thought he looked really good," Manager Dan Wilson said after the game. "I think sometimes you don't know how they're gonna come back from being out so long. You don't know how they're gonna come back from a rehab assignment. I saw him take the mound to start his warm-up tosses and I didn't see it speeding up on him. I really saw someone that was wanting to be there, had thought about being there ahead of time and was comfortable being there. ... I thought he was in control the whole outing."

Andres Munoz entered the game in the bottom of the ninth, fanned one batter and walked one. It was his 12th save in as many opportunities in 16 appearances. He's yet to allow a run this season.

Seattle will have a chance to sweep Texas for the second time this season at 11:35 a.m. PT on Sunday. Logan Evans will start for the Mariners and Jacob deGrom will start for the Rangers.

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Teren Kowatsch
TEREN KOWATSCH

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