SEATTLE — Franklin Gutierrez added a little pop to a night of Seattle small ball with a go-ahead solo homer in the fifth, and the Mariners snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night. After a winless road trip to Chicago and Minnesota, the Mariners returned home and rediscovered a little offense to go along with the pitching of starter Jason Vargas.

SEATTLE — Franklin Gutierrez added a little pop to a night of Seattle small ball with a go-ahead solo homer in the fifth, and the Mariners snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

SEATTLE — The 1978 Mariners lost 104 games, but they had a rock-solid excuse. Those M’s were a second-year expansion team, comprised of spare parts from other organizations and raw rookies pushed prematurely into The Show. For 32 years, that 56-104 mark, the handiwork of Bob Stinson, Ruppert Jones, Dick Pole and company, has stood as the benchmark of Mariner futility. Not that any of the Mariners’ faithful—and I use the term loosely; the M’s drew 877,440 to the Kingdome that year, an average of 11.249 per game—were particularly overwrought.

MINNEAPOLIS – Russell Branyan is about as low-key, steady-as-she-goes as a ballplayer can get. But even a master of understatement had a tough time downplaying this Mariners free fall after the team completed a winless trip Sunday with a 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Seattle hitters struck out a season-high 15 times, managed just two hits and failed to advance any of their five base runners in losing their seventh in a row.

MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Slowey pitched eight sparkling innings, Joe Mauer had three hits and the Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 on Saturday night for their seventh consecutive win. Seattle has lost six straight and its 6-22 record for July matched the franchise record for losses in a month, set by the 1977 expansion team in August.

MINNEAPOLIS — Matt Capps worked a scoreless ninth inning for a save in his first appearance with the Minnesota Twins, preserving a 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

CHICAGO — Ramon Castro homered twice and Paul Konerko went deep for the fourth straight game Thursday night, leading the Chicago White Sox to their 11th consecutive home victory, 9-5 over the Seattle Mariners.

CHICAGO — This latest outing by struggling Seattle Mariners left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith ranked right up there in sports lore with Randall “Tex” Cobb trying to go 15 rounds with Larry Holmes.