ARLINGTON -- Jesse Winker called the shot from the dugout. A teammate of Eugenio Suárez for five years in Cincinnati before they were traded to Seattle in March, Winker knew better than anyone that it was the ideal moment for the slugger who has more home runs than anyone else in MLB over the past five seasons.

And sure enough, Suárez sent a middle-middle fastball from Texas closer Joe Barlow into the right-center-field bleachers with one out in the ninth inning -- a two-run, 393-foot, go-ahead blast that silenced the 25,378 on hand at Globe Life Field and led to a 4-3 victory for Seattle.

The Mariners have now won three of four on their three-city, nine-game road trip -- and two in a row away from Seattle for the first time since the season-opening series in Minnesota. For all of their struggles this season, one that’s stood out significantly for the Mariners has been their inability to win consistently on the road, as they now have an 11-19 record following Friday’s win. That’s made this trip a step in the right direction, especially after a 4 a.m. local time arrival from Baltimore with no off-day in between.

“We always compete to win a game,” Suárez said. “When we’re winning back-to-back series and start this series winning, you’ve got that comfort. We always think like that, play every time, not give up, work hard and try to win as many games as we can. At some point, the wins will come for us, and that’s what happened.”

Perhaps it’s his nine years of experience in the Majors, his veteran demeanor or simply how he was raised, but Suárez -- since Day 1 with the Mariners -- has embodied the mantra of “good vibes only.” He avoids letting the bad moments weigh him down, though he admitted that he carried some extra motivation into that final at-bat after making a critical error in the sixth inning that set up Logan Gilbert for a difficult finish on an otherwise superb day.

On a would-be groundout from Marcus Semien to lead off the inning, Suárez instead sent his throw to first baseman Ty France sailing, after which Semien stole second base and then scored on an RBI double by Corey Seager. Two at-bats later, Kole Calhoun tied the game with a double that scored Seager. And all of a sudden, Gilbert was in a jam with his pitch count climbing.

“After that error, I was thinking, ‘This game is like that and I threw it away,’ but late in the game, I thought, 'Maybe I’ll get an opportunity to do something,'” Suárez said.

Gilbert continues to wow
The way Gilbert had pitched to that point made it feel like a game that, regardless of other circumstances, the Mariners needed to win, with raw stuff that looked as good as ever. He topped out at a career-high 99.3 mph, averaged 96.6 mph on his four-seam fastball and landed his new-look slider effectively for strikes. In total, Gilbert generated a season-high 19 swings and misses, with seven strikeouts.

Even with his pitch count pushing past 100, and with Calhoun baiting him well down the third-base line with no one covering the bag due to Seattle’s defensive shift against Jonah Heim, Gilbert punctuated his tough sixth with a punchout to halt the Rangers’ rally.

Despite Gilbert being just 25 years old, Mariners manager Scott Servais continues to let the right-hander pitch himself out of jams. Gilbert’s 2.22 ERA is 10th-best in the Majors and his 65 innings are eighth-most.

“I absolutely do look at him as a veteran,” Servais said. “His poise, his ability to slow the game down in those moments is as good, or maybe better, than guys that have five, six years in this league.”

Added Gilbert: “It means a lot. I really appreciate that. I try to do my job to earn that. I don't think it's just given. So it's a big honor. And yeah, the high expectations helped me. I have high expectations for myself, and I appreciate it when other people do as well.”

Mariners quietly climbing
At 23-29, Seattle still has a ways to go to get back in the green, but Friday’s win did move the club back to within 3 1/2 games of the final AL Wild Card spot, currently occupied by the spiraling Angels, who lost their ninth straight earlier in the evening to the Phillies. There are four teams ahead of the Mariners for that final playoff berth.

Through 52 games last year, the Mariners were 4 1/2 games back of the final spot with four teams in between, though, of course, this year’s postseason will include one extra team per league as part of the new collective bargaining agreement.