Darvish, Beltran lead Rangers to 6-3 win over Mariners

Carlos Gomez found himself surrounded at his locker Wednesday morning as reporters checked to see if he had anything to prove this weekend against the Houston Astros, the team that released him earlier this month. “I think he’s just trying to get some laughs”, Venditte said. “In my last at-bat, I was just trying to help my team”.

That was some fine planning, but he wasn’t the only Texas Rangers hitter with a good plan.

Odor, thrown out on the bases twice after hits, ended it with a two-run homer to give the AL-best Rangers Tuesday’s 8-7 win over the Seattle Mariners. The Rangers have a knack for winning these close games, improving to 30-8 in one-run games on the season and picking up their 39th come-from-behind win.

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez punches his glove after giving up a grand slam to Texas Rangers’ Carlos Gomez in the fourth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, in Arlington, Texas. Rangers pitchers haven’t allowed a homer in their last eight games, matching Miami for the longest streak in the majors this season. When we play that kind of baseball, it shows how good we are.

“It’s a good thing”, Gomez said. It’s true that we’re competing with six other teams for just two spots, but after a much-needed day off tomorrow, there are still 29 games left in the season.

Bautista led off the game with a homer and Martin added a two-run shot later in the inning to give the Jays a 3-0 lead after just five batters.

The M’s have gone 2-8 in their last 10 games and have really picked an inopportune time to go on a slide as they are in the midst of a wild card hunt in the American League and last night’s loss is a microcosm of their season as they lost in 10 innings after taking the lead in the top.

The Rangers are 6-1 on their 10-game homestand, with the only loss Friday against Cleveland.

“I saw him stealing”, Seager said.

Iwakuma (14-10), who lost his previous start in a matchup against countryman Masahiro Tanaka, surrendered an upper-deck home run to Carlos Beltran in the first inning. Lot of fastballs up in the zone, a lot of chases.

Iwakuma threw 40 pitches in the inning. “I hung pitches in certain instances”. I just said I’m going to get it up. He threw his changeup in the dirt for a big strikeout. “Looked for some pitches out over the plate and didn’t miss”.

Beltre started the inning by roping a single off a 97 miles per hour fastball six inches above the strike zone, after having just fouled off a 97 miles per hour fastball six inches outside the strike zone on the two-strike pitch before.

He was foolishly aggressive and ran into a tag at second base, leaving Adrian Beltre at third base with two out instead of one, a massive gap in the likelihood of that tying run getting home.

SHORT HOPS: Felix Hernandez is 7-11 in his career at Glove Life Park.

The offense, which was shut out three times in an 18-10 August, might be finding its footing.

It was a few days ago that Mariners manager Scott Servais declared it was time to start a postseason push by, in part, not being as cautious in using rookie closer Edwin Diaz.

It’s something that has been issue for him over the last 150 games he’s played. We left it all out there tonight. The Rangers are 11-6 in those starts with five straight wins. Pitch counts have soared during grinding at-bats, and the Rangers have produced runs in a variety of ways.

“So far the body of work speaks for itself”, Texas manager Jeff Banister said. “They put together a strong plan against the starter, and have a backup plan when we’re challenged”. They’re prepared for whomever goes out and faces them.