Thoughts on an 8-6 Rangers win

Rangers 8, Mariners 6

• Its a three game winning streak for the Rangers.  At 9-7, the Rangers have the 4th best record in the American League.  Not bad for a team trying to keep from drowning while dealing with injuries.
• Tanner Scheppers made his fourth start of the season, and while none of his starts have been great, this one was the worst.  Scheppers made it through the first two innings without giving up a run, but inning three was a disaster.  Staked to a 4-0 lead, Scheppers gave the lead up in the first four hitters he faced in the third, going single, walk, homer, homer.  After eliciting a grounder to shortstop, Scheppers then allowed a walk and a single, resulting in Hector Noesi being brought into the game and ending Scheppers' afternoon.  Scheppers' final line was 2.1 IP, 6 hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, 2 Ks and 2 homers allowed.  Scheppers now has a 9.82 ERA on the year.
• Noesi didn't really help Scheppers out, immediately giving up a two run double to Dustin Ackley to let the inherited runners score.  Noesi then gave up a pair of doubles and a walk in the top of the fourth, avoiding any runs scoring by virtue of Robinson Cano lining into a double play to first base to erase the leadoff double.  Noesi threw 2 shutout innings, but was not terribly effective in doing so.
• The rest of the bullpen, however, was great.  Pedro Figueroa retired all five batters he faced, and Jason Frasor, Alexi Ogando and Joakim Soria each threw a shutout inning, with the M's picking up just a single and a walk in those three innings.  The end result was Figueroa picking up his second win of the year, and Soria recording his second save.
• As far as the bats go, Kevin Kouzmanoff continued to tear it up, going two for five with a pair of doubles, including one that drove in the first run of the game after Prince Fielder was walked intentionally with Elvis Andrus on second with two outs in the first inning.  Kouzmanoff also led off the bottom of the third inning with a double, after the M's had hung six runs on Scheppers, and came around to score on a Mitch Moreland double.  Moreland ended up scoring the tying run that inning on a J.P. Arencibia ground out.
• Arencibia was 0 for 4 for the game (and is now 2 for 28 on the year), but on two separate occasions today, Leonys Martin sacrificed a runner over to third base in front of Arencibia, and he brought the runner home each time with a ground out.  This included the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 5th.
• Other noteworthy offensive performances include Donnie Murphy and Mitch Moreland each going 2 for 3 with a walk, Alex Rios going 2 for 5 with a stolen base, and Shin-Soo Choo going 2 for 5 with a second inning home run.  Elvis Andrus, meanwhile, went 1 for 4 with a walk, meaning he's gotten a hit in all fifteen games this season he has not been ejected from.
• Prince Fielder was 0 for 3 tonight.  On the plus side, he drew a pair of walks.  On the negative side, they were both intentional walks.