Mariners power past Rangers behind Ben Gamel, Kyle Seager
ARLINGTON, Texas – Kyle Seager put himself in some elite Seattle Mariners company with another big blast against Texas.
Seager and Ben Gamel both hit three-run homers to help power the Mariners to a 10-3 victory Tuesday night in a matchup of wild-card hopefuls.
“We’ve been in some tight ball games and haven’t quite been able to get over the hump,” Seager said. “So it’s nice to get a bunch of runs early and kind of let everything settle down.”
The Mariners led 7-1 after Seager went deep in the third for his 150th career home. He became only the third player to reach 150 homers with the Mariners before turning 30 – joining Alex Rodriguez (696 career homers) and Hall of Fame outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. (630).
“That’s good names to be associated. I think they might have been slightly younger when they hit their 150th,” said the 29-year-old Seager, in his seventh season. “For me to stick in the big leagues I had to hit for more power. I wasn’t going to steal a bunch of bases.”
Seager’s 22 homers against the Rangers are his most against any team. He matched Mike Trout and Adam Lind for the most by an active player against Texas.
Texas (72-72) and Seattle (72-73) have split the first two games of their four-game series. The Rangers dropped three games behind Minnesota for the American League’s second wild card, while the Mariners remained 3 1/2 back after the Twins also won.
Mariners manager Scott Servais felt his team, with 17 games left, responded well after a meeting before Tuesday’s game.
“I thought we did get after it,” Servais said. “It’s too late if you wait till there’s five or six games left so you’ve got to win them all. Our guys are focused.”
Marco Gonzales (1-1), traded from St. Louis to Seattle on July 21, got his first victory in six starts for Seattle. The lefty struck out six while allowing three runs over five innings, his longest outing this season.
Miguel Gonzalez (7-11), pulled after Seager’s homer, made his second start overall and first at home for the Rangers since being acquired Aug. 31 from the Chicago White Sox. He allowed seven runs and seven hits while recording only seven outs.
“Seems like most everything is one-sided for him right now, allowing hitters to eliminate one side of the plate,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.
Willie Calhoun, the prized prospect the Rangers got when they traded Yu Darvish to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 31, had an RBI single in his first major league at-bat. The Rangers purchased his contract from Triple-A Round Rock early in the day.
“That was fun. I definitely enjoyed it. I can’t even soak it in yet,” said Calhoun, who finished 1 for 4. “It’s an unreal feeling and to be able to do that is really cool.”