Rangers 3, Mariners 1 (13 innings): A long day ends in tough loss
A rough day of attrition Friday turned into a long, rough night for the Mariners that ended in a 3-1 loss to the Texas Rangers in 13 innings at Safeco Field.
Rougned Odor crushed a two-run homer in the 13th inning against rookie reliever Emilio Pagan that broke a 1-1 tie and, shortly thereafter, a miserable day ended in miserable fashion with a loss over 5 hours and 2 minutes.
"Odor got into a good count," manager Scott Servais said, "and he can do some damage. Offensively, it’s tough to win when you only score one run. I think we did hit a lot of balls hard tonight. It goes that way some nights."
The Mariners can’t handle many days like this.
They lost their most effective starter earlier in the day when they put James Paxton on the 10-day disabled list because of a strained forearm muscle.
They lost two relievers, Jean Machi and Evan Marshall, to injuries in the 11th inning, which is what forced to Mariners to turn to Pagan. The only alternative was Dillon Overton, who might start Sunday in place of Paxton.
The Mariners also lost because they were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and because they gifted a run to the Rangers in the first inning when right fielder Ben Gamel failed to make a catch.
Pagan (0-1) had worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings before starting the 13th inning by walking Delino DeShields. Pagan then grooved a 1-0 fastball that Odor drove into the right-field seats.
Matt Bush (2-0) got the victory after stranding two runners in the 12th inning. Alex Claudio pitched a scoreless 13th inning for his first save.
The Mariners Machi and Marshall in a span of three pitches with two outs in the 11th inning. Machi got the first two outs before encountering a nerve issue in his thumb on a walk to Carlos Gomez.
Marshall replaced Machi and, on his second pitch to Joey Gallo, grabbed his right hamstring as he collapsed to the ground. In came In came Pagan, who struck out Gallo and worked a one-two-three 12th inning.
"Machi had trouble gripping the ball," Servais said. "Then we brought in Marshall, and he pulled his hamstring pretty good. He went down in pain right away. He's probably going to be out a significant amount of time."
The Mariners wasted a great chance to win the game in the 10th inning after Jean Segura led off with a double against Tony Barnette that landed just fair in left field.
The inning began to unravel when Gamel struck out by pulling the bat back on a two-strike on a pitch down the middle.
That prompted an intentional walk to Robinson Cano, whose homer in the fourth inning pulled the Mariners even at 1-1.
Barnette then retired Nelson Cruz on a fly to center before ending the inning when Kyle Seager grounded to first.
"With the middle-of-our lineup guys coming up behind (Gamel)," Servais said, "we’ve got to execute. Especially late in the game like that. Getting the guy over to third would have changed the whole complexion of that inning."
Mariners closer Edwin Diaz worked around a jam in the ninth inning after Elvis Andrus whacked a first-pitch fastball to left for a leadoff single.
Andrus stole second without a throw when catcher Chooch Ruiz couldn’t hold a pitch, but Diaz escaped. Gomez struck out, Gallo popped out and Mike Napoli flied out.
Mariners starter Yovani Gallardo gave up a tainted run in the first inning but nothing more in pitching through the sixth. He handed a 1-1 game to James Pazos to start the seventh.
The Mariners got Guillermo Heredia to third with one out in the seventh, but Texas starter Yu Darvish held the tie by striking out Jarrod Dyson on a nasty full-count slider before retiring Segura on a fly to center.
That was it for Darvish, who threw 116 pitches. The Rangers turned to Sam Dyson to start the eighth inning, and the Mariners again put runners on first and second with one out.
Dyson retired Seager on a fly to left and Danny Valencia on a grounder to second.
The Rangers’ first run came on a two-out RBI double by Andrus that Gamel should have been caught along the right-field line.
Gamel reached the ball, which landed foul — and it was initially ruled a foul. The Rangers challenged, and replays showed the ball ticked off Gamel’s glove in fair territory before landing foul.
It should have been an error.
Cano pulled the Mariners even with a leadoff homer in the fourth inning. He yanked an 0-2 slider into the right-field seats.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Gamel atoned somewhat for failing to catch Andrus’ drive in the first inning by taking extra bases away from Carlos Gomez in the fourth inning.
Gamel made a diving catch on a slicing liner that appeared headed for the right-field corner.
PLUS: Segura went 3-for-6, which raised his average top .342. He is batting .362 (17-for-47) in nine games since being activated April 25 from the disabled list after missing 12 games because of a strained right hamstring…relievers Marc Rzepczynski and Nick Vincent extended their scoreless inning streaks. Vincent is at 11 1/3 innings, while Rzepczynski is at eight innings.
MINUS: The umpiring crew was 0-for-3 on challenges by the Rangers…Segura was caught stealing in the first inning when he came off the base with the tag being applied by Andrus. (That was one of the replay overturns)…Guillermo Heredia was thrown out at second in the 11th inning when he tried to stretch a one-out simple into a double. (That was another replay overturn)…Jarrod Dyson’s average is down to .216 after he went hitless in four at-bats.
STAT PACK: Nelson Cruz extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single in the second inning.
QUOTABLE: Gallardo pitched at least six innings and gave up one run for the second time in six starts.
"He really shouldn't have given up anything," Servais said. "The ball down the line was a ball that probably should have been caught."
SHORT HOPS: The Mariners are 0-3 in extra innings…catcher Tuffy Gosewisch made his Mariners debut after being recalled earlier Friday from Triple-A Tacoma…opponents are a combined 0-for-27 this year against Darvish with runners in scoring position.
Bob Dutton: @TNT_Mariners
This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 2:52 AM with the headline "Rangers 3, Mariners 1 (13 innings): A long day ends in tough loss."