Ty France on Thursday hit a two-run single in the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied from a four-run deficit and beat the Texas Rangers 6-5, extending their winning streak to 11 games.
Seattle’s win streak is the second-longest in club history behind the 2001 Mariners, who won 15 straight. That team was the franchise’s most recent playoff team.
The run is also the second-longest streak in the majors this season, behind Atlanta’s 14-game winning run.
Photo: AFP
“Eleven wins in a row — incredible,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Incredible group we’ve got.”
The Mariners have gone 19-3 since being 10 games under .500 on June 19 and have moved into the American League wild-card race. The winning streak has featured six one-run games, plus an extra-inning victory.
The Mariners trailed 5-1 going into the seventh inning, before tagging Texas’ bullpen for two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. Up to that point, Seattle’s only run came on No. 9 hitter Sam Haggerty’s inside-the-park homer in the fourth inning.
Matt Festa (2-0) pitched a perfect seventh inning and earned the win.
Diego Castillo stranded runners at first and second in the ninth inning, and picked up his sixth save in six chances.
Haggerty had his fourth career four-hit game and his second in 10 days.
“You just feel like you can win every game at some point, and we’re kind of on one of those stretches,” Haggerty said. “I don’t believe anybody in the dugout felt for a moment that we didn’t have a chance to come back.”
Corey Seager, added to the American League All-Star team and the Home Run Derby earlier on Thursday, had a double and two RBIs for Texas, who are 4-3 during a 10-game homestand, their longest of the season.
“A gut punch,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “We’ve had a few of them.”
Texas starter Martin Perez allowed one run on three hits and matched a career high with nine strikeouts, before being pulled after five innings and 102 pitches. Perez sought his eighth straight win.
Haggerty and Julio Rodriguez scored on Eugenio Suarez’s single in the seventh inning, pulling Seattle within 5-3.
After pinch-hitter Adam Frazier, Abraham Toro and Haggerty loaded the bases in the eighth with none out, reliever Dennis Santana (3-5) hit Rodriguez to pull Seattle within a run. France followed with his single to left, scoring Toro and Haggerty.
Seattle starter Marco Gonzales gave up all five runs on a season-high 11 hits, one short of his career high, but reaching the sixth inning helped a bullpen coming off a Wednesday doubleheader at Washington in which relievers threw 12 innings.
“We know who we are; we know how good we are,” Gonzales said.
Elsewhere, the Royals downed the Blue Jays 3-1, the Dodgers blanked the Cardinals 4-0, the White Sox thrashed the Twins 12-2, the Mets crushed the Cubs 8-0, the Guardians tamed the Tigers 4-0, the Rays edged the Red Sox 5-4, the Rockies defeated the Padres 8-5 and the Braves beat the Nationals 5-4.
In games that went to 10 innings, the Brewers downed the Giants 3-2, the Astros edged the Angels 3-2 and the Reds pipped Yankees 7-6, while the Marlins sank the Pirates 3-2 in 11 innings.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
RSS