Dunning stunning in move to Rangers' rotation

SEATTLE -- The Rangers already conquered their demons at Minute Maid Park earlier this season, when they took a series from the Astros, and this week, the club did the same at T-Mobile Park.

On the back of starter Dane Dunning, Texas beat the Mariners, 4-3, on Wednesday afternoon to secure its first series win in Seattle since May 2019. The club had previously dropped nine consecutive series at T-Mobile Park.

“It feels great,” Dunning said. “I mean, for the past couple of years, [a series win here] kind of eluded us a little bit. They’ve always found a way to make a little comeback and stuff like that. It's good. Any in-division series win is really big for us. I thought the team battled great today. … It’s a new team, a lot better team. So it’s a little bit different.”

The Rangers were 5-14 against the Mariners in 2022, only winning two games in Seattle and losing the season series for the fifth time in six years.

“It's a nightmarish, tough place to play,” catcher Jonah Heim said. “The crowd always comes, they're always loud, they’re supportive and they pull well at home. We know they have really good pitching, so it's just a battle every time we go out there. Our pitching staff came up huge this series, and hopefully, we can continue that.”

Seemingly on a quest to exorcise all their divisional demons, the Rangers have also won all four series against AL West opponents so far this season.

“I think that means we’re pretty good,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “I've said that this is a really good team. These are good clubs that we're playing, and you’ve got to play well in your division. It’s early. We’re not going to rest on this, but you do have your hands full when you play these teams. It's good to start out the season like that and get all the series the first time around.”

There’s no doubt that pitching carried Texas through this set in Seattle, and on Wednesday, Dunning showed why he’s maybe been the Rangers’ best and most consistent pitcher on the staff so far.

In the win over the Mariners, Dunning tossed six innings with two runs allowed, striking out five and controlling the game pretty much from start to finish. He credited Heim not only just for his game-calling in the win, but for his ability to calm him down when things got a little out of whack early on.

Dunning uncharacteristically opened the game with a leadoff walk to J.P. Crawford, who went on to score the first run of the game after a throwing error from left fielder Robbie Grossman. Though that was the only official error in the book, Dunning could have finished with a scoreless effort with tighter defense.

“I just got more confident as the game went,” Dunning said. “I thought our pitch-calling was phenomenal. I was just able to start executing pitches as it needed to be. I was able to get ahead of hitters in the later innings and was able to kind of work off that. And … Jonah's doing a fantastic job behind the plate, and he's just been able to get us all settled in and get us going.”

But Heim didn’t hesitate to downplay his role and credit the right-hander for his own execution.

“He's executing when he needs to, and he's throwing the ball with conviction,” Heim said. “So when you add all those up, it’s a good recipe.”

Dunning was pushed lower in the Rangers' rotation depth chart this offseason due to the veteran free-agent signings of Jacob deGrom, Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi, but he excelled with a move to the bullpen, entering last Friday’s start against the Angels with a 1.77 ERA through 20 1/3 innings of relief work.

Pitching in deGrom's spot in the rotation, Dunning has tossed 11 innings and allowed just two runs in the two starts since the ace went down with right elbow inflammation last homestand. Bochy confirmed that Dunning would stay in the rotation until deGrom’s return.

He’s earned it so far.

“He’s not changing, whether he was in the bullpen or starting,” Bochy said. “He’s using all his pitches. He’s just got location and deception, and that works in baseball. You think of power guys, whatever, but if you have that [location and deception] -- we had an assistant pitching coach, Greg Maddux, and he made a really good living doing that. That's the key to pitching, and he can do that.”