ARLINGTON, Texas (July 26) \u2014 The Texas Rangers<\/a> saw their division lead in the AL West shrink to a game and a half with a 6\u20134 loss to the Seattle Mariners<\/a>\u00a0Sunday. Dominic Canzone<\/a><\/strong> and Randy Arozarena<\/a><\/strong> helped their team’s cause with back-to-back homers in the seventh inning.\u00a0 The Rangers will go for the four-game series win over the Mariners in a rare Monday matinee with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Righties George Kirby<\/a><\/strong> (8\u20138, 3.57 ERA) and Kumar Rocker<\/a><\/strong> (3\u20138, 4.13 ERA) will go up against one another in the series finale.<\/p>\n The Rangers early-inning scoring trend continued Sunday against righty Logan Gilbert<\/a><\/strong> in the bottom of the first. Joc Pederson<\/a><\/strong> hit a leadoff double to center, and Wyatt Langford<\/a><\/strong> nudged him to third with a single to left. On deck was Ezequiel Duran<\/a><\/strong>, who brought Pederson home with a sacrifice fly to center.<\/p>\n The Mariners answered back in the top of the third off right-hander Jacob deGrom<\/a><\/strong>. With two outs, Cole Young<\/a><\/strong> legged out a triple to deep center. He promptly scored thanks to a single to left by Julio Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Rangers took a 3\u20131 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Brandon Nimmo<\/a><\/strong> led off with a single back to the mound. Gilbert slipped on the turf picking up the ball to his left, and his toss to first baseman Josh Naylor<\/a><\/strong> was offline. This enabled Nimmo to reach the bag safely. There was a delay as the Mariners’ training staff tended briefly to Gilbert, but he shook himself off and was able to stay in the game. Once play resumed, Jake Burger<\/a><\/strong> drew a walk, and Evan Carter<\/a><\/strong> scored Nimmo with a single to right. Burger scored from third on the next play courtesy of an infield single by Nicky Lopez<\/a><\/strong>. Young made a diving stop to the left of second, but was unable to get to his feet in time to make a throw to first.<\/p>\n The Mariners came back in the top of the seventh off reliever Tyler Alexander<\/a><\/strong>. Colt Emerson<\/a><\/strong> and Young reached on back-to-back one-out singles to left. It was at this point that Rangers manager Skip Schumaker<\/a><\/strong> brought in reliever Cole Winn<\/a><\/strong>. After Rodriguez flied to second, Canzone stepped in. He angered the crowd of 29,496 with a three-run bomb to right on a 2\u20130 pitch. It was his 16th homer of the year. Arozarena made it back-to-back home runs with a shot to right-center on the first offering he saw for his 12th home run of the season.<\/p>\n The Rangers cut the lead to one run in the bottom of the eight against reliever Eduard Bazardo<\/a><\/strong>. With one away, Duran came to the plate and hit one over the wall in left. It marked his 11th home run of the campaign.<\/p>\n The Mariners tacked on one more in the top of the ninth with reliever Peyton Gray<\/a><\/strong> on the mound. With one out in the frame, Gray hit Rodriguez with a pitch. That brought up Canzone, who brought Rodriguez home with a double to right.<\/p>\n The Mariners pulled off quite a sneak attack in the seventh with the home runs by Canzone and Arozarena. As previously eluded to, there was a calmness in the ballpark prior to that happening. The Mariners also put together some good RBI hits and didn’t let the early Rangers lead get to them. It’s fun when you can run away with a lead, but it’s invaluable when you can climb out of a hole and win.<\/p>\n The Mariners trailed early on Sunday. It started out simple with the sacrifice fly to center by Duran that plated Pederson. They also had to deal with the run-scoring base hits by Carter and Lopez.<\/p>\n Rangers starter Jacob deGrom pitched into the sixth and yielded one run in a no-decision. He had a final line of 5+ IP, 7 H, 1 R-ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 90 pitches\/66 strikes. deGrom scattered seven hits, his most in an outing with one or zero runs since August 28, 2018 at the Chicago Cubs<\/a> as a member of the New York Mets<\/a>. deGrom breezed through a six-pitch opening frame (all strikes), his fewest pitches in any inning this season.<\/p>\n He departed after allowing consecutive singles to begin the sixth, but reliever Robby Ahlstrom<\/a><\/strong> stranded both runners. Jacob deGrom tossed first-pitch strikes to each of his first 16 batters faced and 20 of the 22 Mariners he opposed Sunday, with his 90.9% first-pitch strike rate equaling a career high.<\/p>\n Mariners starter Logan Gilbert also took a no-decision after pitching 5 2\/3 innings while allowing three runs, all earned, on five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. He was tagged for a run in the first after Pederson doubled and scored on a sac fly. Gilbert bounced back with three-up-three-down innings in the second and third but surrendered two more runs on three singles and a walk in the fourth. He has allowed three or more earned runs in three straight starts for the first time this season.<\/p>\n After allowing the third run on the Lopez single, Gilbert retired eight straight until walking his final batter of the game with two down in the sixth. Gilbert has tossed five or more innings in 20 of 21 starts this year. He has lasted five or more innings in all 19 of his starts against the Rangers in his career.<\/p>\n The win went to lefty Gabe Speier<\/a><\/strong>, who came on in relief in the sixth. He retired four in a row over an inning and a third with three strikeouts to improve to 2\u20132 with an ERA of 1.95. In a cruel irony, the loss went to Winn (5\u20133), also in relief.<\/p>\n After pitching a perfect ninth, also with with three strikeouts, Andres Munoz<\/strong><\/a> collected his 18th save of the season.<\/p>\n After the tough loss, Schumaker went over the team’s process for resetting for the series finale on Monday. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow,” he said. “There’s a bunch of big leaguers in there (the clubhouse) that are looking forward to rebound. We have Rock (Kumar Rocker) going against a really good pitcher (George Kirby). I thought our offense provided really good at-bats against a tough pitcher again tonight, so we have another one tomorrow. I think we’re looking forward to it.”<\/p>\nRangers Score First<\/h4>\n
Back-to-Back Jacks<\/h4>\n
What Went Right for the Mariners<\/h4>\n
What Went Wrong for the Mariners<\/h4>\n
Five Innings for deGrom<\/h4>\n
Gilbert’s Afternoon<\/h4>\n
Schumaker’s Postgame Comments<\/h4>\n
Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>