Rangers hit three homers to salvage final game against Mariners

ARLINGTON, Texas – In terms of momentum, either real or perceived, it would have been optimal for the Seattle Mariners to put up a third win over the Rangers in as many days at Globe Life Park on Wednesday night.

But it didn’t happen.

Starter Ariel Miranda wasn’t good on the mound and his teammates weren’t particularly outstanding in the field or at the plate, and the Mariners lost 5-1, snapping their four-game win streak and falling to 55-54 on the season.

There were moments when the Mariners looked like the team that had played itself into real wild-card contention since the all-star break – the RBI single from Robinson Cano in the first inning and Leonys Martin’s brilliant throw from right field to third base to cut down a stunned Elvis Andrus in the fourth were memorable.

But otherwise it was forgettable performance featuring too many runners stranded on base waiting for a timely hit and too many homers yielded by Miranda.

There isn’t much time for the Mariners to dwell on their failures. They open a significant four-game series on Thursday at Kaufman Stadium against the Kansas City Royals, who are ahead of them in the wild-card standings.

With a 40-minute rain delay in the bottom of the sixth inning pushing the game later into the night, the Mariners will have a quick turnaround before facing the Royals. Fortunately for Seattle, Kansas City dealt with a similar delay in its road trip finale in Baltimore.

It’s difficult to think of a series in the first week of August as key, but these four games against the Royals – a team that swept Seattle at Safeco Field a month ago – are as important as any played to date this season.

Taking three of four in the series would be ideal for the Mariners, but a split would also suffice.

To do that, they’ll need a much better showing than on Wednesday night.

The Mariners grabbed a quick 1-0 lead against Rangers starter Andrew Cashner. Jean Segura was hit by a pitch, stole second on the first pitch to Cano and scored on the second pitch, which was turned into a line drive into center. Nelson Cruz followed with a single to put a pair of runners on and put Cashner into a precarious position.

But in a sign of things to come, Kyle Seager lined out to center and Danny Valencia struck out looking, stranding the two runners. Seattle left two runners on base in the third and fourth inning. The failures to come up with the big hit allowed Cashner, who wasn’t particularly sharp, to pitch six innings, allowing just the one run on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

In all, the Mariners left nine runners on base and went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

Meanwhile, Miranda gave the Mariners a middling performance.

The 1-0 lead given to him was lost on his fourth pitch of the game – a 2-1 fastball on the inner half of the plate. Delino DeShields turned on the pitch, sending it over the wall in left field for a leadoff homer.

The Rangers took the lead for good in the fourth inning when Adrian Beltre scored Shin-Soo Choo on a sacrifice fly to right field. On the play, Andrus tried to tag up at second and advance to third. But he was cut down by a strong throw from Martin.

In the fifth, Miranda made a mistake to Joey Gallo that resulted in a home run. It’s the same mistake that three other Mariners pitchers have made in the series.

Gallo continued his assault on innocent baseballs by crushing a 2-2 slider that acted like a fastball into the porch area in deep center. Statcast measured the blast – his 28th of the season – at 460 feet.

The Rangers put the game out of reach in the sixth via, of course, the long ball. Cano committed a one-out error on Choo’s ground ball to third and Andrus made it hurt, slamming a 1-0 fastball at the letters into the seats in deep left-center for a 5-1 lead. The rain started shortly thereafter ending Miranda’s outing, but it was clear he was done before that.

Seattle had one last gasp at a comeback following the rain delay.

In the eighth, Jason Grilli walked Cano and Cruz to start the inning. But Seager lined out to center and Valencia and Martin struck out to end any hope of a comeback.