Napoli, Rangers enjoy another blast in win over Mariners

ARLINGTON -- Mike Napoli had a sense of relief sitting in front of his locker Monday afternoon. He had good feelings a day after going 2 for 3 with a two-run home run, and saw himself beginning to break out of what had become a 3-for-25 slump.

He took another step forward a few hours later.

Napoli came through for the second consecutive day in helping the Texas Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night at Rangers Ballpark.

Napoli broke open a 1-1 game with a three-run opposite-field shot in the sixth, and put Matt Harrison in line for a well-deserved victory. Harrison held the Mariners to two runs over eight innings to win his sixth game, giving the Rangers a four-game winning streak.

"Huge hit for Mike," Ian Kinsler said. "With Harry out there, it seemed like we were waiting all night for the offense to explode. Nap came up with a huge hit that pretty much won the game."

Until Napoli's blast, the Rangers had been struggling to score runs against Mariners starter Kevin Millwood. Nelson Cruz had a solo homer in the second to tie the game 1-1, but that was it.

Millwood held the Rangers to one run on four hits, but exited after five innings and 97 pitches. The Texas offense broke loose against the Seattle bullpen.

Adrian Beltre led off the sixth by drawing a four-pitch walk, his seventh free pass this season, against Seattle reliever Steve Delabar. David Murphy then moved Beltre to third with a single to right. After Cruz struck out, Napoli went deep the day after ending a 24-game homerless streak.

"It was a big hit tonight, but you don't come out of a slump in two days," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "I think he'll let you know in the next week or so if he's out of the slump. He's feeling much better at the plate and what we got out of tonight we needed it."

They also needed the impressive performance turned in by Harrison.

The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first on a two-out RBI single by Jesus Montero, but Harrison settled into a zone shortly thereafter. He retired eight in a row and 18 of the next 21.

"I was way more aggressive, definitely," said Harrison, who gave up one run over seven innings in his last start against Seattle on Tuesday.

"I pounded the strike zone and kept the hitters off-balance."

The Mariners didn't score again until the eighth. Brendan Ryan had an RBI triple and tried to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run with no outs.

Craig Gentry had missed the ball on a diving attempt, and it rolled to the right-center field wall. Cruz backed up Gentry and tracked down the ball, then made a quick throw to the cutoff man, Kinsler. Kinsler delivered a strike home to gun down an exhausted Ryan, who couldn't slide in safely with Napoli blocking the plate.

Harrison got out of the inning without any more damage, keeping a 4-2 lead intact.

"That was awesome," Harrison said of the relay play. "I didn't think they'd send him right there with no outs, but they sent him anyway."

Rangers closer Joe Nathan shut it down in the ninth, working around a one-out error for his 11th save of the season.

Drew Davison, 817-390-7760

Twitter: @drewdavison

This story was originally published May 28, 2012 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Napoli, Rangers enjoy another blast in win over Mariners."