Texas Rangers give losing homestand a winning end

The Texas Rangers returned to Globe Life Park last week after sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays, one of the better teams in the American League.

With a nine-game homestand in front of them, the Rangers’ thoughts of claiming a postseason spot still seemed highly doable.

But even their 5-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in Wednesday night, in a game that was stopped for 40 minutes by rain, doesn’t do much to change the mood after going 3-6 in the homestand.

The Rangers were trying to snap a four-game losing streak before heading out for six games on the road, starting Thursday with the first of four in Minnesota.

The rain delay removed starting pitcher Andrew Cashner from the game after he held Seattle to a run on six hits in six innings. It’s the fifth consecutive start Cashner has gone at least six innings and allowed three or fewer runs. Cashner (7-8) has gone at least six innings in 13 of his 18 starts. He earned his third straight win, which ties his career-high from September 2014.

Both teams scored a run in the first inning, the Rangers got theirs off Delino DeShields’ lead-off home run.

The Mariners’ only run against Cashner came after a hit batter and a couple of singles. Cashner worked out of trouble in the fourth after a single and double with one out but retired the next two batters to end the inning and retired the final eight batters he faced. Matt Bush and Jason Grilli each pitched a scoreless inning of relief before Jose Leclerc finished in the ninth.

Joey Gallo’s solo homer in the fourth gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead. It’s Gallo’s seventh homer in his past 12 games and third in the past two nights. Elvis Andrus’ two-run homer in the sixth stretched the lead to 5-1. It started raining steadily shortly thereafter and play was stopped.

“It was huge after a rough week,” said Elvis Andrus of the win. “Hopefully we can take the momentum on the road.”

Before the game, manager Jeff Banister was asked about his team still fighting for a wild card spot despite starting the night  5 1/2 games back of the second spot and with six other teams in front or tied with them in the playoff hunt. That includes the Mariners, who were one game back of the Royals for the second wild card spot before the game.

“Until they come up short, the drive is still there,” Banister said. “That’s what’s special about this group. I can’t speak on other teams. As long as they’re in the fight, we’re in the fight. I don’t think you’re going to take that out of them.”

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Texas Rangers give losing homestand a winning end."