Mariners 8, Rangers 3: Postgame Notes

TEXAS has lost 2 straight after a 4-2 start to this homestand...dropped to 2-6 vs. the Mariners in 2022...club remains in 3rd place in the A.L. West (-16.5 GB), but is now 6.5 games behind 2nd-place Seattle.

TAYLOR HEARN pitched 4.0 relief innings in his return to the Majors tonight, recording 7 strikeouts...the 7 K's matched his career high, done one other time (4/12/21 at TB), which was also a relief outing...the game at Tropicana Field was also the last time any Texas reliever had as many as 7 K's in an appearance...Hearn is just the 4th pitcher in Rangers history with multiple relief outings of 7+ SO, joining Danny Darwin (4x), Len Barker (3x), and Scott Baker (twice)...tonight was Hearn's 1st ML appearance since 4.0 SHO IP in relief on 6/25 vs. WAS.

COREY SEAGER hit HR no. 22 in the 6th inning for the Rangers' 1st run...is T2nd-highest single-season HR total in his career (26 in 2016, 22 in 2017)...now has HR in 6 of the 8 games in this homestand, and in 7 of his last 10 contests overall...has at least one RBI in a career-high 8 consecutive games, the longest span for any Texas batter since Hank Blalock had RBI in 8 straight from 9/19-27/08...Seager's 8-G RBI streak is 2nd-longest in MLB this season, trailing only NYM's Francisco Lindor, who had RBI in 10 straight from 5/22-6/1.

LEODY TAVERAS had a HR, double, and steal of 3rd tonight, extending his hit streak to a career-high 6 straight...his 2-R HR in the 7th inning made it a one-run game...marked 3rd career HR against a left-handed pitcher for the switch-hitter, 1st HR off a LHP since 8/31/21 vs. COL...was his 1st HR overall since 7/2 at NYM...Taveras against left-handed pitching this season: 10-for-21 (.476)...also doubled in the 2nd for the Rangers' 1st hit, as he matched a career high with 2 extra-base hits...3 of Taveras' 5 career games with multiple XBH have come this week (also Mon. vs. OAK and Tues. vs. OAK).

SEATTLE extended its win streak to 12 games, 2nd-longest in Mariners history (15 G, 5/23-6/8/01) and 2nd-longest in MLB this season behind Atlanta (14 G, 6/1-15)…has an MLB-best 20-3 (.870) record since 6/21…has gone 6-2 against Texas in 2022, including 4-1 at Globe Life Field…will be seeking an 8th straight series win with one victory in the final 2 G of this series…has hit at least one HR in 12 straight games.

ROBBIE RAY was scoreless over his first 5.0 innings before allowing runs in the 6th (1) and 7th (2) innings…12 strikeouts tied his season high (also 7/3 vs. OAK), tied the Globe Life Field record (also TEX’s Jon Gray on 6/1/21 vs. TB & LAA's Dylan Bundy 9/10/20 at TEX), and marked most strikeouts for any pitcher against Texas since TB's Tyler Glasnow had 14 on 4/12/21 at Tropicana Field…Ray’s last 7 starts (beg. 6/12): 3-0, 1.36 (7 ER/46.1 IP), 11 BB, 58 SO, .151 opp. BA (24-159)…has 15 games with 10+ strikeouts since start of 2021, tied w/ MIL’s Corbin Burnes for most in MLB over that span.

JULIO RODRIGUEZ hit his first career grand slam on a 3-2 pitch with 2 outs in the 8th inning, giving the Mariners an 8-3 lead…finished with a career-high 5 RBI, as he leads all MLB rookies in HR (16) and RBI (50)…at 21 years and 198 days old today, he is the first Mariners player 21-or-younger to hit a grand slam since Alex Rodriguez on 7/6/96 at TEX…marked the 100th home run by Seattle this season and the first slam…last slam was 8/31/21 vs. HOU (Abraham Toro), last on the road was 6/5/21 at LAA (Jake Fraley), and the last in Arlington was 8/10/20 at TEX (Kyle Seager).

ADAM FRAZIER reached base 3 times, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single and walk…has a team-high 7 hits on this road trip…batting .417 (10-24) over his last 7 G, with hits in 5 straight.

SHORTS: TEX dropped to 1-6 in 7 G started by "openers" this season...Charlie Culberson had his 2nd multi-hit game of the homestand tonight, as he has hits in 3 of his 4 starts on the homestand...TEX is 1-4 in the home Friday red tops this season...