Rangers fall apart in seventh, fall to Mariners

A messy seventh inning Saturday resulted in seven Seattle Mariners runs, and the Texas Rangers managed only seven hits in an 8-2 loss at Safeco Field.

Martin Perez started the seventh in a 1-1 game, but allowed a single and committed an error against the first two batters. Keone Kela entered and allowed an infield single before hitting a batter for the first Mariners run.

Left-hander Dario Alvarez allowed a sacrifice fly to Robinson Cano and walked Nelson Cruz, but he retired Kyle Seager for the second out. Left in to face a right-handed hitter, Alvarez allowed a two-out two-run single to Danny Valencia. Another righty hitter, Taylor Motter, followed with an RBI double and the lefty-hitting Ben Gamel delivered a two-run single to cap the big inning.

Manager Jeff Banister said afterward that he stuck with Alvarez to avoid using a third pitcher in the inning and not having a bullpen for the series finale Sunday.

“Three pitchers in one inning on a strapped bullpen probably is not what you want to do,” Banister said. “That’s probably more preservation than anything else.”

The error made only one of the runs earned, and Perez allowed three runs (two earned) in six-plus innings. But even those two earned runs would have been enough as the Rangers managed to score only on Joey Gallo’s solo homer in the second inning and Mike Napoli’s solo shot with two outs in the ninth. Aside from the homers, the Rangers had only three other runners get to second base.　　　　

How Rangers hitters fared: Chase De Jong, who entered with a 11.05 ERA, limited the Rangers to only one run on four hits in six innings. The one run came on Joey Gallo’s 10th home run of the season, a 428-foot shot in the second inning. ... The Rangers had only one other runner reach second base against De Jong. Delino DeShields had a one-out double in the third, but Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara followed with quick outs. ... The Rangers managed only three hits the rest of the way.　　

How Rangers pitchers fared: Martin Perez was close again to another solid start, but again had a hand in an inning that got away from the Rangers. ... The Mariners collected eight hits against Perez in six-plus innings, but he wiggled out of trouble two times. In the fourth, Seattle put runners at second and third with two outs, but Perez struck out Ben Gamel. In the sixth, the Mariners had runners at first and second with one out and first and third with two outs, but Perez escaped to keep the game tied 1-1. ... But a Gamel single and a Perez throwing error gave the Mariners two runners to start the seventh and end Perez’s game. ... Keone Kela entered and allowed an infield hit to load the bases, and followed thhat with a hit batsman for a 2-1 Mariners lead. ... Robinson Cano followed with a sacrifice fly off Dario Alvarez, who walked Nelson Cruz before getting Kyle Seager to pop out. But Danny Valencia delivered a two-out two-run single, Taylor Motter followed with a double, and Gamel collected a two-run single.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 11:22 PM with the headline "Rangers fall apart in seventh, fall to Mariners."