Mariners avoid sweep by Rangers with walk-off homer

SEATTLE — Dae-Ho Lee hit a two-run homer off Jake Diekman with two outs in the 10th inning Wednesday afternoon, a blast that lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 4-2 victory that prevented Texas Rangers from leaving Safeco Field with a three-game sweep.

Delino DeShields hit the game-tying homer in the eighth inning for the Rangers, who finished the seven-game road trip with a 4-3 record. Two of the losses were walk-offs.

A.J. Griffin allowed two runs (one earned) in five innings of his second start this season and his second since Sept. 24, 2013.　

Hitting: The Rangers made Tijuan Walker work, but they couldn’t get much done against him in six innings. They had five hits, all singles and two of those were on the infield. ... The Rangers loaded the bases with two outs in the first only to see Ian Desmond bounce into a fielder’s choice. ... It took the lack of the neighborhood play, banned to begin this season, to help the Rangers score. Nomar Mazara appeared to bounce into a double play in the third, but the umpire Jeff Nelson called Delino DeShields safe as Ketel Marte didn’t touch second base. Adrian Beltre followed two batters later with a seeing-eye single for the game’s first run. ... DeShields’ homer to start the eighth was the third of his career but the first on the road.

Pitching: A.J. Griffin allowed two runs in five innings, but the good results weren’t easily achieved. ... The right-hander, making his second start of the season and second since Sept. 24, 2013, threw 31 pitches in the first inning and was at 70 after three. As much as defense helped him in the first and third with inning ending double plays, the run against him in the third was unearned as Ian Desmond dropped a flyball to start the inning. ... The earned run against Griffin came with two outs in the fifth, when Robinson Cano launched a home deep to right field. Griffin finished the inning at 103 pitches and was finished. ... Alex Claudio, added to the roster before the game, and Barnette combined to get the Rangers through the next four innings.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Mariners avoid sweep by Rangers with walk-off homer."