Mariners knock off Rangers with 5-run 7th

ARLINGTON -- Their starting pitcher didn't have his best stuff, and neither did their closer. Their defense was spotty. But fortunately for the Mariners, their hitters had enough power to get past the Rangers in an uneven 9-7 win on Saturday night.
"We got it done," manager Scott Servais said. "Some nights it's ugly, but the key is you get it done."
Homers by Robinson Canó and Mitch Haniger in a five-run seventh inning helped wage a comeback win, continuing an offensive awakening that began the previous night at Globe Life Park.
The Mariners eked out the win even though James Paxton lasted only four innings, Edwin Díaz needed a career-high 40 pitches to close out the game, and the defense turned a couple of would-be outs into base hits. In the end, just before midnight CT after an 85-minute rain-delayed start, the seventh-inning outburst made the difference.
"It was on our offense tonight and our guys stepped up, got some big hits, put a nice rally together, and it was enough," Servais said.

Rangers starter Bartolo Colon left with a two-run lead after 5 2/3 innings, and then the Mariners knocked around reliever Alex Claudio the next frame. They logged four consecutive hits off Claudio -- Guillermo Heredia's pinch-hit single, Dee Gordon's bloop double, Jean Segura's RBI double and Cano's dinger.
After reliever Chris Martin came in for Claudio and recorded two outs, Haniger smashed a ball over the left-field fence for the Mariners' final run. Cano paced the offense with three hits, three runs and two RBIs on his go-ahead homer in the seventh.
Paxton and Diaz both had trouble finding home-plate umpire Gary Cederstrom's strike zone, as both the left-handed starter and the right-handed closer walked three batters each.
For Paxton, the four-inning outing was his shortest of the season. He threw 32 pitches in the first inning and 33 in the third as his pitch count ballooned and kept him from working any deeper into the game.
"I didn't have anything sharp tonight ... I was basically just kind of spraying hard fastballs up there, that was about it," Paxton said.

Tasked with getting a four-out save with righty Juan Nicasio on a rest day, Diaz walked three batters in the ninth, but managed to earn his eighth save in as many opportunities this season.
Before the final out, a bases-loaded flyout by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Servais and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. used the last of their mound visits to reassure Diaz.
"Stay relaxed and make your pitch, you're the man here, you've been in this situation before, get the out,'" Diaz said of the message. "Do your job, you'll be fine."
The offense did. Coming off a stretch of five games in which they scored two or fewer runs, the Mariners have scored 15 runs on 27 hits in the first two games of this three-game series.
"Any time you face really tough pitching, sometimes it gets the best of hitters, but we just go out there and battle and keep swinging the bats, and keep our heads up, and it was great tonight and last night," Haniger said.
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Nelson Cruz's 453-foot screamer to left certainly had more oomph behind it than Cano's 345-foot, soaring shot to the shallowest part of Globe Life Park, near the triangular fence in the right-field corner. But Cano's homer was the go-ahead shot despite being more gently hit. It left the bat at 97 mph, with a heavily undercut 42-degree launch angle, according to Statcast™, while Cruz's liner had an exit velocity of 113 mph and a launch angle of 23 degrees. More >

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Segura made an athletic, unusual play with one out and runners at the corners in the sixth. Shin-Soo Choo lined a ball right at Segura, but high enough to force the shortstop to leap for it. The ball popped out of Segura's glove -- but he turned around and caught it in the air for the out, keeping the inning from getting away from the Mariners. Perhaps he deserved both an assist and a putout for his efforts.

SOUND SMART
Gordon has a long, successful history with Colon, going 14-for-35 (.400) for his career against the 44-year-old righty. He had two hits off Colon on Saturday as well as a double after Colon left.

UP NEXT
Right-hander Erasmo Ramírez, who came off the disabled list Sunday morning, will square off against struggling Rangers lefty Martín Pérez at 12:05 p.m. PT on Sunday in the series finale at Globe Life Park. Ramirez has been hampered by a lat injury that has kept him out since the beginning of Spring Training.