Early Long Balls Give Rangers Series-Opening Win in Seattle - kram438's Dynasty

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Early Long Balls Give Rangers Series-Opening Win in Seattle

Posted on July 17, 2018 at 04:54 AM.

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Two first-inning solo home runs Friday helped the Texas Rangers jump ahead early against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez, as the Rangers held on late to win game one of a three-game AL West series at Safeco Field.

Shin-Soo Choo, who was moved up to the No. 2 spot in the lineup for this game, hit a solo home run in the first to give Texas (3-7) a 1-0 lead. Rougned Odor hit his fourth HR of the season two batters later to make it 2-0 after one half-inning.

The Mariners got a run back in the bottom half of the first after two doubles from Jarrod Dyson and Kyle Seager. But Martin Perez (1-1) rebounded nicely from his disaster of a season debut last week against the Athletics, in which he only lasted 2/3 of an inning and allowed seven runs, to throw seven innings with just one run allowed, six strikeouts and no walks.

Jake Diekman earned his first save of the season with two innings of work, as he and Perez helped relieve a taxed bullpen that just worked back-to-back extra-inning games in Anaheim before traveling to the Pacific Northwest. Diekman gave up a two-out, two-run home run to Danny Valencia in the bottom of the ninth, making it 4-3, but he struck out Leonys Martin to end the game and earn the save.

The Rangers' top of the rotation comes back up for game two tomorrow, with Yu Darvish throwing against Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma, who is off to a hot start at 2-0 and a 0.53 ERA.

Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners
Apr 14, 2017	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas (3-7)	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	6	0
Seattle (4-7)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	5	0
W: Martin Perez (1-1) L: Felix Hernandez (1-2) S: Jake Diekman (1)

Texas Rangers
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Elvis Andrus, SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.298
Shin-Soo Choo, RF	4	1	2	2	0	2	1	.351
Adrian Beltre, 3B	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.159
Joey Gallo, PR-3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Rougned Odor, 2B	4	1	1	1	0	2	1	.356
Nomar Mazara, DH	4	0	1	0	0	3	0	.324
Jonathan Lucroy, C	4	0	1	0	0	3	0	.316
Jared Hoying, LF	3	1	0	0	1	2	0	.240
James Loney, 1B	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.259
Delino DeShields Jr., CF	3	1	1	1	0	1	0	.316
TEAM TOTALS	32	4	6	4	2	14	2
BATTING: 2B: DeShields Jr. (2) HR: Choo (2), Odor (4) RBI: Choo 2 (7), Odor (6), DeShields Jr. (2)
BASERUNNING: CS: Gallo (1)

Seattle Mariners
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Jarrod Dyson, CF	4	1	1	0	0	1	0	.286
Jean Segura, SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.178
Robinson Cano, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	.250
Kyle Seager, 3B	4	0	2	1	0	2	0	.357
Danny Valencia, DH	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.357
Leonys Martin, LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.242
Mitch Haniger, RF	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Dan Vogelbach, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.226
Carlos Ruiz, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.313
TEAM TOTALS	32	3	5	3	0	9	1
BATTING: 2B: Dyson (3), Cano (2), Seager 2 (3) HR: Valencia (4) RBI: Seager (10), Valencia 2 (12) HBP: Vogelbach