Hamels, Rangers win with 1 hit, beat Hernandez, Mariners

The dream of going 162-0 is over, but the Texas Rangers’ chances to be a contender this season will be enhanced if Martin Perez pitches like he did Tuesday night. “I think Kyle maybe got a little anxious with the runner coming and thought maybe he could do something there”.

PLUS: The Mariners hit three homers in their six-run eighth inning and four in all.

But, wait, that’s not all. The win for Seattle marked the first ever for new Mariners manager Scott Servais. The 33-year-old Asian star struck out against Hamels with two on in the seventh.

“I was in good position, and at the last second I lost the ball”, Marte said.

Choo, batting second and playing right field, didn’t have a hit but got on base three times in five plate appearances. “It’s ugly and I’m embarrassed”.

Astros 5, Yankees 3: Carlos Correa reached on an eighth-inning dribbler that Dellin Betances threw over first baseman Mark Teixeira as Jose Altuve scored the tiebreaking run, and Houston beat NY to win four straight openers for the first time in franchise history. After a Nelson Cruz double, Kyle Seager doubled for a 6-2 lead. If he wanted to brush him back from the plate, he could’ve thrown a different pitch. Iannetta took no solace in the action and shared his anger with Wilhelmsen as he walked to first base.

Banister emerged from the dugout to speak with Hudson, then pointed and yelled across the field at Servais after he had left the dugout.

“I’ve never won like this”, the burly slugger said after a 3-2 victory over Seattle on Monday. “I just got to get ready for the next one”. “But that’s part of the game”.

The Mariners jumped to an early 2-0 lead in top of the first. The Japanese right-hander allowed consecutive run-scoring singles to Elvis Andrus and Robinson Chirinos with two outs in the fourth. Either that or Pitchf/x needs to be recalibrated…Hudson’s zone was a big reason that Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma, normally efficient, required 90 pitches to get through five innings…Dae-Ho Lee grounded into a double play and flied to center in his first major-league start before getting removed for a pinch-hitter.

Cruz got Perez for a home run to start the fourth. Banister was mad that Wilhelmsen was ejected from the game.

“It looks like they had a pretty good idea of what I had”.

“Every one of us is going to pull for each other, every one of us is going to stand up for each other, that’s just the way this team is”, Iannetta said. When Shin-Soo Choo bobbled the pick-up, Smith scored from first and Martin ended up on third. “The decision to take Martin out”, Banister explained, “He’d only had two clean innings, a 24-pitch inning, pitched in traffic two-through-five”. Iannetta connected for two singles and a walk reaching base three times on the day. Perez was lifted at 88 pitches, many of them stressful in the Rangers’ eyes.

Also on Tuesday, another South Korean player, Choi Ji-man, made his big league debut for the Los Angeles Angels. The Rangers made a surprising run to the AL West banner, which will be raised before the opener. But order was soon restored. This game is probably one of the weirdest games I’ve seen, and I watch a lot of baseball. “You want a manager who protects you”.