Wyatt Langford singled home the go-ahead run in the 11th inning as the Texas Rangers defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Saturday afternoon.
Kyle Higashioka homered and drove in three runs for the Rangers, who won for the first time in their past nine games at T-Mobile Park and pulled within a game of Seattle for both second place in the American League West and the AL’s third and final wild-card spot.
Langford’s soft liner to right field leading off the 11th scored Adolis Garcia from second base. Ezequiel Duran followed with a broken-bat single to right off Casey Legumina (4-6) to give Texas a two-run lead.
Rangers reliever Luis Curvelo (1-0), making his second major-league appearance, pitched 1 1/3 innings for the victory.
The Rangers scored twice in the top of the 10th off Matt Brash to take a 4-2 lead. Higashioka blooped a leadoff single to center to score pinch-runner Duran. A bloop to right by Alejandro Osuna and a sacrifice bunt by Josh Smith put runners at second and third and an intentional walk to Corey Seager loaded the bases. Marcus Semien grounded out to short on a slow roller to score Higashioka.
The Mariners tied it in the bottom of the inning on Randy Arozarena’s leadoff blast into the second deck in left field.
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Rowdy Tellez led off with an infield single and Higashioka deposited a 2-2 fastball from Luis Castillo into Texas’ bullpen in left field.
Merrill Kelly, making his Rangers debut after being acquired from Arizona at the trade deadline, allowed just one hit through the first five innings – an infield single by rookie Cole Young with two outs in the third.
The Mariners tied the score in the sixth with the help of a mental mistake by Kelly.
J.P. Crawford, led off with a ground-rule double into the right-field corner. With one out, Arozarena lined a single to center, sending Crawford to third. Trying to keep Arozarena from stealing second, Kelly committed a balk by disengaging from the pitching rubber three times. That allowed Crawford to trot home and Arozarena to advance. With two outs, Julio Rodriguez lined a double to right to tie the score.
Kelly allowed two runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings, with no walks and six strikeouts.
Castillo gave up two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked one and fanned four.
–Field Level Media
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