Mariners’ muscle too much for Texas Rangers bullpen

For the second consecutive day, the Seattle Mariners overpowered the most powerful part of the Texas Rangers, the bullpen.

The Mariners rallied for five consecutive hits against closer Shawn Tolleson in the ninth inning to peg the Rangers with a neck-spinning 9-5 loss Wednesday afternoon at Globe Life Park.

Tolleson was pulled without retiring a batter after surrendering three singles, a double and a two-run homer by Robinson Cano.

Cano hit two of the Mariners’ three homers Wednesday and had four of the nine Seattle homers in the three-game series. He was 4 for 13 with seven RBIs in the series.

“It hurts anytime your team’s got a chance to win and you go in there and give it up like that,” said Tolleson, who was charged with the loss. “You never want to do that, so it’s not a good feeling.”

It was a particularly bothersome loss considering it was the second consecutive game a Rangers reliever allowed five runs without recording an out. Tom Wilhelmsen did it in Tuesday’s 10-2 loss.

“I’d hope that we wouldn’t panic in two games,” manager Jeff Banister said. He reminded the media of the Rangers’ struggles early a year ago.

“I hope you know me by now, there’s no panic. We’ve got to be better, there’s no doubt. We have to be better in those situations.”

Most vexing to Banister were the six walks allowed by Rangers pitchers, specifically three in relief.

After the Rangers had rallied to overcome a 3-0 deficit, first with two in the second and then a lead-claiming, three-run homer by Prince Fielder in the sixth, starter Colby Lewis handed the game over to the bullpen for the final three innings.

Keone Kela, making his first appearance in 2016, left with two outs after two singles and a walk loaded the bases in the seventh. Left-hander Jake Diekman came in to face left-hitting Cano and quickly fell behind 3-0 before eventually walking in a run to pull Seattle to within 5-4.

Sam Dyson came in and got Nelson Cruz to fly out to end the inning on the first pitch.

“We have to limit if not eliminate them,” Banister said of the walks. “That’s what I look at more, just the volume in walks versus the six strikeouts. You give hitters multiple at-bats, long looks, they become better hitters.”

The Mariners weren’t exactly ripping Tolleson early in the ninth. Ketel Marte and Leonys Martin both “shanked” hits to left, as Banister described it.

“He made some real quality pitches and they found some holes. You have to credit those guys for putting the ball in play and doing that,” catcher Bryan Holaday said. “It always stings, but we’re not going to lose confidence in our bullpen. We still have a great bullpen, these guys can throw the ball. We’re going to bounce back.”

The Rangers’ rotation has held up its end so far with three decent starts from Cole Hamels, Martin Perez and Lewis. Lewis and Fielder, two of the eldest players in the clubhouse, dismissed any notion of trouble.

“We’re fine,” Lewis said after allowing three runs, including a two-run homer on a changeup to Cano in the first inning. “Everybody wants to get on certain things. You saw what we did last year. We play these guys 15 more times. It is what it is.”

Fielder, who collected his first homer in Game 3 compared to Game 14 a year ago, said the Mariners’ group of sluggers can make the best of bullpens pay.

“That’s what they do when [pitchers] make mistakes, so I’m not surprised at all,” Fielder said. “If a great bullpen is making mistakes it doesn’t matter. It feels bad, but I think we played good baseball. Just at the end it kind of got away from us. Hopefully, we go into Anaheim and turn that around.”

The Rangers begin a four-game series Thursday against the Angels.

“After two outings I’m not going to raise the red flag and be concerned,” Banister said. “We’ve got some work to do, we know that. I’m sure those bats are going to get hot, we believe in our offense. We have to shore up, sharpen up, and we’ll get it going in the right direction.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Mariners’ muscle too much for Texas Rangers bullpen."