The Seattle Mariners opened a three-game series against the first-place Texas Rangers on Friday night. The Mariners surely got plenty of glee from handing a 6-3 loss to their American League West rivals to start the series.
The Mariners struck first in the bottom of the second inning, as Casper Wells doubled home Justin Smoak. Seattle made it 2-0 in the third inning when Franklin Gutierrez scored on a wild pitch.
The Rangers knotted it up at 2-2 in the top of the third with a two-run RBI single from David Murphy, but the M's got both of those runs back in the bottom of the frame. Carlos Triunfel hit an RBI double and came in to score on a fielding error that pushed the Seattle lead to 4-2.
David Murphy hit a two-out home run in the top of the sixth to cut the Seattle lead to one run. Miguel Olivo was finally able to give the Mariners some breathing room as he hit his 12th home run of the season in the eighth; a two-run shot that made it 6-3 in Seattle's favor.
Hisashi Iwakuma turned in another quality start, allowing three runs on eight hits and no walks in seven innings of work, while striking out four.
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