Notes: Lowe breaks out; Benjamin struggles

First baseman Nathaniel Lowe went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a home run in the Rangers' 6-5 comeback win over the Mariners on Saturday. It was much needed for Lowe, who entered the night with a sub-.200 batting average amid a first-base competition with Ronald Guzmán.

Rangers manager Chris Woodward has repeatedly said they know how good Lowe can be at the plate, but the results haven’t shown up as the club expected until now.

“I know he hasn't had a ton of results, but it's just the way this guy works and carries himself. I felt it was kind of a matter of time,” Woodward said. “He's really calm when he takes his at-bats, and I know early when he was punching out looking, he just said, ‘I'm gonna stick with it.’ He knows the strike zone. It's nice to see him get some results today.”

Benjamin struggles
Wes Benjamin has been one of the Rangers' best pitchers this spring, but he hit his first bump in the road on Saturday as all five of Seattle’s runs came against the lefty.

Benjamin entered the game having pitched six innings with five hits and one earned run.

In 3 1/3 innings against the Mariners, he gave up five runs on seven hits and one walk. Seattle was on top of Benjamin early, with the first three batters tagging him for hits in the first inning.

“They read the scouting report,” Benjamin said. “They know I'm gonna throw a lot of strikes. I think a lot of teams in this league are going to start to catch on and are going to start swinging early. It is what it is. I got it under my belt [and] out of the way, and I’m ready for the next one.”

He said he didn’t make an adjustment quick enough, leaving his fastball over the plate too many times and allowing the Mariners to consistently time him. Benjamin said he also thinks he threw too many changeups as he tries to improve on that pitch heading into Opening Day.

Benjamin joked that he thought he was getting a little too much praise during Spring Training and appreciated going through a bit of adversity.

“It's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows,” Benjamin said. “To get that out of the way, I think it's going to be beneficial for me in the long run.”

"You're gonna get beat sometimes," Woodward added. "The best players in the game get beat, and there's gonna be times you have to deal with adversity. 'How do we bounce back from that? What do you learn from it?' That's all part of the process."

Khrush takes a walk
Woodward said a Khris Davis walk stood out to him during Texas’ rally.

“[Davis] was excited, he threw his bat over our dugout and he kind of gave a nod,” Woodward said. “I think when you get a guy to buy into understanding how important that walk is, you're just setting up that entire ending. Maybe we don't score there, but something we've been heavily pressing is getting that guy on, and we set up the scoring after that. It's just constant pressure.”

That leadoff walk -- with the Rangers trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh -- set it all up. After Davis’ free pass, Texas had run-scoring hits from Nick Solak, Lowe, Jose Trevino and Adolis Garcia.