Texas turned this one over in a hurry. A quiet opening inning gave way to a six-run burst across the second and third, and by the time George Kirby left the mound, the Rangers had built a lead Seattle could not chase down. The final was 7-3.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| TEX | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 11 | 0 |
Joc Pederson was the story from the first pitch he saw over the fence. He led off the scoring with a solo homer to center in the first inning, then came back up in the second and hit a three-run shot to right that pushed the score to 4-1. He finished 2-for-4 with two home runs, four RBIs and two runs scored, carrying the Texas offense on his own.
The Rangers' decisive move came in the second inning, when Pederson's three-run homer erased a brief tie and put Texas ahead for good at 4-1. Randy Arozarena had answered Pederson's first blast with a solo shot of his own in the top of the second to level the score at 1-1, but Pederson's second homer, which scored Lopez and Díaz alongside him, made sure the tie did not last. Texas kept pouring it on in the third: Ezequiel Duran homered to left center, and Jake Burger followed with a two-run shot that also brought home Carter, stretching the lead to 2-7.
George Kirby took the loss for Seattle, allowing 7 runs on 7 hits over 4.0 innings with 3 strikeouts and no walks. The Mariners chipped away with a Julio Rodríguez sacrifice fly that brought in Emerson in the third and a J.P. Crawford sacrifice fly that scored Naylor in the ninth, but neither dented the deficit Texas had built. Seattle's bullpen settled in behind Kirby, with four relievers combining for 4.0 scoreless innings, but the early damage was already done.
Kumar Rocker earned the win for Texas, working 6.2 innings and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits with 7 strikeouts and 2 walks, carrying a 4.03 ERA into the record book at 4-8 on the season. The Texas bullpen covered 2.1 innings behind him, allowing 1 run. The Rangers improved to 54-52 and have won their last game, while the Mariners fell to 52-55.