Jon Gray won his fifth straight start in impressive fashion, throwing seven scoreless innings in leading the Texas Rangers to a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
Gray (6-1) finished his 82-pitch night having allowed two hits and one walk while striking out five. He has a 0.79 ERA during his five-start win streak.
Rangers reliever Grant Anderson, in his second career appearance in the big leagues, worked around a two-out single in a scoreless eighth. Texas closer Will Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Mariners star Julio Rodriguez to end the game and earn his 10th save.
The Rangers needed everything they got from Gray as their offense struggled to get much going against Mariners starter Luis Castillo (4-3).
Castillo was the hard-luck loser after allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts over seven innings. He didn't yield a hit until Robbie Grossman singled with one out in the fifth. Texas' Travis Jankowski followed with a single, and both advanced to second and third on a wild pitch.
Castillo escaped that threat, though, with a popup and a flyout. However, he ran into trouble again in the sixth.
Rangers leadoff man Marcus Semien singled to start the inning, and he moved to third on a single by Corey Seager. Semien scored on a sacrifice fly by Nathaniel Lowe.
Texas extended its lead to 2-0 in the eighth off Seattle reliever Matt Brash. Seager dropped a double down the left field line to score Jonah Heim, who had reached on a leadoff single.
That was the only offense for a Texas team that entered the game as majors' leader in runs (346), runs per game (6.3) and batting average (.272). But it was enough for the Rangers on a night when Gray dominated.
Texas has now won 10 of its last 13 games. Seattle has lost three of its last four.
--Field Level Media