Rangers-Mariners: Texas Outslugs Seattle, 13-12 in 10 Innings

As a preface to this article, I would like to point out the good news to Mariners fans everywhere—the fact that the Mariners got outslugged at least implies (correctly) that the Mariners were actually slugging in the first place!  In that regard, this game was a deep contrast to the majority of games this season.

ARLINGTON—An early 5-0 lead was not enough to help the struggling Seattle Mariners win their second consecutive game on Monday night. 

The scoring began early in the top of the first, with Ichiro Suzuki coming in to score on a fielding error by Rangers third baseman Ramon Vazquez on a ball batted by the Mariners' Adrian Beltre.  Beltre then scored when Seattle right fielder Raul Ibanez went deep with his seventh home run of the season. Later in the same frame, two more runs would score—first with a balk by Rangers starting pitcher Vicente Padilla (scoring Jose Lopez), and then with a sacrifice fly hit by catcher Kenji Johjima, which allowed designated hitter Jeff Clement to score from third.

But the Rangers quickly went to work on picking away at their early five-run deficit. 

Texas scored in the bottom half of the first on an RBI single by Rangers shortstop Michael Young.  They tacked on another run in the second via a sacrifice fly hit by German Duran to score catcher Gerald Laird.

But the Rangers didn't run out Mariners starter Erik Bedard until the third, with back-to-back home runs by Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley and a run-scoring single by Chris Shelton a few batters later.  All this was done without Bedard recording an out.  The Rangers would take a one-run lead on Duran double play that scored Laird.

Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt tied the game up in the sixth inning with an RBI double, which scored Clement. 

The Rangers looked like they were going to run away with it in the seventh when they capitalized on a fielding error by Jose Lopez, allowing Laird to score again on what otherwise would have been the third out. 

Texas scored three more times before the Mariners could stop the bleeding.  Josh Hamilton had a two-RBI single, scoring Ian Kinsler and Duran.  Frank Catalanotto, pinch hitting for designated hitter Milton Bradley—who was removed from the game with an injured shoulder—hit another RBI single to give the Rangers a four-run lead.

Both teams scored two runs in the eighth.  The Mariners got theirs from a two-run home run by Wladimir Balentien, whereas the Rangers scored with two bases-loaded walks.

The Mariners rallied in the ninth with four runs.  Beltre scored on a double by Raul Ibanez.  Later, Johjima hit a clutch, two-out, three-run home run to tie the game at 12 runs apiece. 

Mariners reliever Brandon Morrow came in to strike out the side in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra frames.  He also struck out David Murphy to begin the tenth. 

The Rangers finally put this game away, which lasted well over four hours, when Ramon Vazquez made up for his error early in the game by taking advantage of a rare mistake by Morrow to hit a walk-off home run for the win. The Texas Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners by a final of 13 to 12.