SEATTLE (AP) – Cal Raleigh homered in the seventh inning, lined an RBI double in the ninth and scored the winning run on Carlos Santana’s sacrifice fly, and the Seattle Mariners rallied for a 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
JP Crawford led off the ninth with a single off Texas reliever Brett Martin and scored from first when Raleigh lined a shot to the wall in right-centre field.
Raleigh was sacrificed to third base and after Martin (0-6) issued intentional walks to Julio Rodríguez and Ty France to load the bases, Santana hit a fly ball to centre field that was deep enough for Raleigh to score the winning run.
Seattle won its seventh straight over the Rangers and its ninth consecutive game decided by
one run.
Since losing to Oakland on July 1, the Mariners are 16-3 with the only three losses coming last weekend to Houston.
Rodríguez led off the game with his 17th home run of the season in his first action since the All-Star Game last week.
Rodríguez returned from Los Angeles complaining of a sore left wrist that was initially injured in the final game before the break in Texas.
Seattle was cautious but Rodríguez was clearly ready to return hitting the sixth pitch of the game out to left field.
“I’m not surprised at this point. It’s amazing what that guy is doing. I just shake my head in amazement,” Raleigh said.
Kyle Lewis added an RBI single in the first inning, and Raleigh’s 14th homer in the seventh gave Seattle a 3-1 lead.
But Seattle’s bullpen sputtered late and the Rangers pulled ahead. Adolis García’s two-run double in the eighth inning took an awkward bounce inside first base and pulled the Rangers even at 3-3 after Paul Sewald had walked Corey Seager and Jonah Heim with two outs.
Leody Taveras led off the ninth inning with an opposite-field single off Erik Swanson (1-0) on a pitch well out of the strike zone, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored when Ezequiel Duran’s sinking line drive couldn’t be caught on a diving attempt by right fielder Sam Haggerty.
But the Mariners put together a final rally and improved to 23-12 in one-run games, while Texas fell to 5-23.
“We had a tough one last night, even tougher one tonight,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said.
