Texas Rangers Increase AL West Lead on Astros With Another Win Over Mariners

Texas Rangers extend their American League West lead over the Houston Astros with another win against Seattle Mariners.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas Rangers increased their lead atop the American League West to 1.5 games with a 2-0 over the Seattle Mariners Saturday night at Globe Life Field.

The Houston Astros (85-70) lost to the Royals for the second consecutive game Saturday night. The loss drops them back 1.5games in the AL West Division race.

The Rangers (86-68) now lead the Mariners (84-70) by two games in the division. The Toronto Blue Jays lost on a walk-off to the Tampa Bay Rays and remain a game ahead of the Astros for the second of three Wild Card spots.

With the win over Seattle, Texas secured a postseason tiebreaker with the Mariners. The Rangers have won four consecutive games and 10 of their past 14.

Adolis Garcia scored both Rangers runs in the second and fourth innings. Garcia doubled with one out in the second and later scored on Mitch Garver's opposite-field single to right. In the fourth, Garcia walked, stole second, and scored on Jonah Heim's single to left to give Texas a 2-0 lead. Both Garcia and Garver were 2 for 3.

Meanwhile, Jordan Montgomery gave the Rangers its most clutch starting performance of the season. He held Seattle scoreless on five hits and two walks and struck out six in seven innings. He improved to 10-11 overall, and 4-2 with Texas.

Rangers 2, Mariners 2

Here are the key moments from Saturday's game:

Ace Jordan Montgomery

All things considered, Jordan Montgomery has been the closest thing to an ace for the Rangers in September. The left-hander who was acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, has allowed just one run in his past three starts, a span of 21 innings. That includes Saturday's seven scoreless innings while holding the Mariners to five hits and two walks.

Montgomery has gone at least six innings in his 10 starts for Texas, including seven innings in each of his past three starts.

Right Time For a Shutout

Saturday's 2-0 win is the Rangers' 12th shutout win this season and first since a 4-0 win over Toronto on Sept. 13. It's the most shutouts for Texas since they had 17 in 2014.

Rare Company For Adolis Garcia

Adolis García is just the ninth player in (93 HR/50 SB) Washington/Texas franchise history to record 90 or more career home runs and 50 or more career stolen bases as a member of the team. Garcia has 93 homers and 50 stolen bases. The only other MLB players with 90+ homers and 50+ stolen bases over the last three seasons are Shohei Ohtani (124 HR/57 SB) and Marcus Semien (96 HR/54 SB), according to Stathead.

Up Next

Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (11-4, 3.05) face Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (4-4, 3.90) in the series finale at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

---

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.