Knuckle sandwich

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Rangers apparently never figured out how to hit R.A. Dickey’s knuckleball while he was playing for them.

Dickey limited Texas to two runs and six hits pitching into the eighth inning, Adrian Beltre homered and the Seattle Mariners held on for an 8-5 victory Thursday night.

“It is satisfying, but it’s more of a personal satisfaction,” Dickey said. “It’s not like I have any vendetta against the Rangers. This is where I started toward what I’ve become as a pitcher.”

Dickey (3-6) had lost his previous three decisions, but he was in control against a lineup that entered the game with a team batting average of .282, tops in the majors. He struck out two and walked one in 72/3 innings.

The Rangers loaded the bases without a hit in the first, but Dickey worked out of the jam by retiring David Murphy on a groundout. Dickey held the Rangers hitless until Josh Hamilton doubled leading off the fourth.

Ichiro Suzuki tripled, doubled and scored twice for the Mariners, who had lost nine of their previous 11 and seven of the last nine against the Rangers.

Texas rallied in the ninth, cutting into an 8-2 deficit on Ramon Vazquez’s RBI single and Frank Catalanotto’s two-run double. But Mariners closer J.J. Putz, who entered the game in a non-save situation, got the final two outs.

Seattle took a 2-0 lead in the first off Matt Harrison (2-2) on Raul Ibanez’s run-scoring double and Beltre’s RBI ground out.

The Mariners got two more in the second. Jamie Burke reached on an error and scored when Ichiro doubled and went to third on Murphy’s fielding error. Ichiro raced home on Harrison’s wild pitch.

Seattle bumped the lead to 6-0 in the fourth when Miguel Cairo scored from third on Jeremy Reed’s RBI fielder’s choice, and Ichiro followed with a sacrifice fly.

Beltre’s two-run shot in the eighth off Dustin Nippert made it 8-0, but Vazquez broke up Dickey’s bid for his second career shutout with a two-run shot in the eighth.

Rhodes dealt to Florida for minor leaguer

The Florida Marlins bolstered their bullpen by acquiring left-hander Arthur Rhodes from the Seattle for minor league right-hander Gaby Hernandez.

Florida, in the thick of the N.L. East and wild-card races, made the deal a few hours before the trade deadline.

Hernandez, 21, was a combined 5-8 this year with a 6.47 ERA for Triple-A Albuquerque and Double-A Carolina.