'Our guys compete': Seattle claims 11th straight 'W'

ARLINGTON -- Twelve days ago the Mariners embarked on something that hadn’t been done since Lou Piniella was the skipper and they were eyeing the American League pennant some 21 years ago.

Twelve days later and they’re still going.

Seattle picked up its 11th consecutive victory in a 6-5 comeback win over the Rangers on Thursday night at Globe Life Field. It is the second longest winning streak in franchise history and is currently the longest active winning streak in the Majors, with the Orioles sitting one game behind at 10 straight wins.

“What a run we are on,” manager Scott Servais said. “You just never know how it’s gonna play out every night, and tonight was a little bit different than our normal formula.”

With the win, the Mariners (48-42) now own the second Wild Card spot in the American League. They are just 1.5 games back of the Rays for the AL's top spot.

Facing Rangers All-Star Martín Pérez, it almost looked like the historic streak would come to an end. The bats were cold and Texas got the best of starter Marco Gonzales with four runs allowed in the first two innings.

But, with the bullpen nearly tapped out after a doubleheader against the Nationals, Gonzales stayed put through the sixth and the run support followed.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in Marco,” Servais said. “He usually finds a way to figure it out.”

As they’ve done a few times over this 11-game stretch, the Mariners surged late, scoring five runs in the final three frames to keep the streak intact. The 2001 Mariners currently hold the club record for the longest winning streak, with 15 games running from May 23 to June 8.

“Even tonight when we were down, I mean, the energy in our dugout, the energy in our team all year long … we know who we are,” said Gonzales, who took the no-decision after giving up five runs on a season-high 11 hits. “We know how good we are and we’re never out of it. There’s no panic here.”

Thursday’s victory marked Seattle’s largest comeback win of the season. The Mariners were down 4-0 before Sam Haggerty got the momentum going with an inside-the-park home run in the fourth inning. Haggerty added even more history to the win in his three-hit night, as it was the first inside-the-parker by a Mariner since Willie Bloomquist on June 15, 2007.

Haggerty’s Little League homer bounced by Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras and rolled back to the wall. By the time Taveras grabbed the ball, Haggerty was already being waved home. Haggerty said it felt like he hit quicksand once he touched third, but gave it everything he had to put the Mariners’ first run on the board.

“Baseball is very contagious,” Haggerty said. “So something like that, that doesn’t happen too often can definitely kind of ignite a team.”

The rally was ignited in the seventh inning, and was capped off in the eighth by none other than Ty France.

France, who entered the series 2-for-20 since coming off the IL on July 7, hit the go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning that put Seattle ahead and in line for the win.

“Ty France did what he does,” Servais remarked.

“11 wins in a row. Incredible.”

The Mariners have a chance to keep this run going heading into the All-Star break, but they’ll need to finish off these last three games against the Rangers. They’ve won seven consecutive series, including a sweep of the last three against the Nationals (2-0), Blue Jays (4-0), and Padres (2-0).

“It’s a fun group and they like competing. It’s a word that gets thrown a lot,” Servais said. “A lot of people try hard. Our guys compete and they compete every night.”