Who in their right mind decided it was a good idea to let dingers happened at Safeco?
Nine of the twelve runs in tonight's game came courtesy of the long ball with the Rangers hitting four to the Mariners three. The Mariners won 7-5 because one of their three home runs came with people standing on the bases. Every other dong for each team happened to be a solo shot.
Dae-Ho Lee hit two of the Mariners' three dingers -- Kyle Seager hit the other, of course -- and is trying to become a folk hero in Seattle while challenging Nomar Mazara for the Rookie of the Year award. He must be stopped. The big blow came off Lee's bat when he hit a three-run shot off Derek Holland in the bottom of the 4th after Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz had reached to start the inning.
The Rangers lost despite Jurickson Profar (who went 2 for 4, by the way) being in the starting lineup which just doesn't seem possible. Profar tried his darndest as he scored the Rangers' fourth run in the 8th on an Ian Desmond RBI double to make it 5-4 Seattle.
The 3-4-5 hitters in the lineup were unable to plate Desmond and Texas saw its hopes of a comeback dashed after a comedy of errors in the bottom of the 8th allowed Seattle to score twice off Shawn Tolleson. Mitch Moreland hit his second solo home run of the night in the 9th but it was too little too late for Texas.
Player of the Game: The Rangers hit four solo home runs while also out-hitting the Mariners ten to seven but let's go outside the batter's box and tip the cap to Tom Wilhelmsen for pitching two scoreless innings of relief backing up Holland and momentarily keeping Texas in the game.
Up Next: The Rangers and Mariners reconvene for the second game of this series with Colby Lewis making the start for Texas against fireballing LHP James Paxton for Seattle. First pitch is once again scheduled for 9:10 pm CT.