Rangers Bobble Early Lead, Lose 6-4 To Mariners
ARLINGTON (AP) — The Texas Rangers seemed a bit wiped out after a few emotional days, both good and bad.
Hours after ace pitcher Yu Darvish was traded, and a day after Adrian Beltre's 3,000th career hit, the Rangers blew a big early lead in a sloppy 6-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.
"Obviously the magnitude yesterday, the high emotion with the 3,000 hits and then today with the trades," manager Jeff Banister said. "I don't like to use those as any type of excuse, but they are human beings, and there are different emotions. ... However, we still feel like these guys continue to battle."
After jumping ahead 4-0 the first two innings against Felix Hernandez, the Rangers couldn't overcome four errors , two balks and 13 strikeouts against the four Seattle pitchers.
Robinson Cano had the tiebreaking two-run single in the ninth, lining a ball over the head of right fielder Shin-Soo Choo. Cano was thrown out trying to stretch the head into a double, a play that came right after pitching coach Doug Brocail was ejected for arguing a balk called against Alex Claudio (2-1) that put runners at second and third.
"About as rocky start as we've seen Felix have, he didn't really have a lot," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "The story of the game is really the bullpen."
David Phelps (1-1) got all five of his outs on strikeouts before Edwin Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save.
Rougned Odor and Carlos Gomez homered for the Rangers, who had five hits in the first two innings — then only one the rest of the way.
A day after becoming the first Dominican player and 31st overall in the majors with 3,000 hits, Beltre added to his total in the first with a solid single up the middle against Hernandez, his good friend. They were teammates during Beltre's five seasons in Seattle (2005-09) and are still close.
Odor had just hit his 23rd homer overall and 10th of July, a two-run homer measured at 437 feet, when Hernandez walked toward the plate and hugged Beltre before going back to the mound.
"My first thing that came to my mind was just go to home plate and congratulate him," said Hernandez, who had alerted home plate umpire Doug Eddings of his plan. "What he did last night was unbelievable."
Darvish was dealt to the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers within minutes of the non-waiver trade deadline earlier Monday for three minor league players. Texas also traded reliever Jeremy Jeffress back to Milwaukee for a Double-A pitcher, and had sent catcher Johnathan Lucroy to Colorado after Sunday's game for a player to be named.
After three trades the previous week, the Mariners made no addition deals before the deadline.
Hamels struck out seven and walked one over six innings. Hernandez struck out five, walked three and hit two batters in 5 1/3 innings.
Seattle tied the game at 4-all with an unearned run in the sixth. Guillermo Heredia reached on a two-out error by Beltre and scored on a triple by Leonys Martin .
It was the third straight game that Beltre had a throwing error. He had gone 62 consecutive games without an error before that, a franchise record and career best for the five-time Gold Glove winner.
SHORT HOPS
Beltre's 3,001 hits put him 30th all-time, breaking a tie with Roberto Clemente at 3,000. ... Odor homered in three consecutive plate appearances, having gone deep in his last two at-bats Sunday. The last Rangers player with at least 10 homers in a month was Beltre, who hit 11 in September 2012.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mariners: Martin, a .145 hitter, was recalled from Triple-A after RF Mitch Haniger got hit in the face by a fastball on Saturday. Haniger is expected to be out about two weeks.
Rangers: RHP Tyson Ross made a rehab start for Double-A Frisco, a week after going on the 10-day DL with a blister on his right index finger.
UP NEXT
Mariners: RHP Erasmo Ramirez will start three days after being reacquired by the Mariners in a trade with Tampa Bay. Since his last start June 21, Ramirez has pitched only 10 innings in six relief appearances. Manager Scott Servais said he will be limited to 60-80 pitches and that a reliever will be ready to go.
Rangers: RHP Nick Martinez is likely to start in what was Darvish's scheduled spot Tuesday. Martinez was recalled after being activated Monday from the disabled list (right forearm soreness) at Triple-A Round Rock.
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