Rangers at Mariners
The first-place Texas Rangers try for their seventh consecutive series victory Sunday when they visit the Seattle Mariners in the rubber match of their three-game set after engineering an improbable comeback Saturday. Texas trailed by a run with two outs in the ninth inning when Prince Fielder blasted a game-tying home run before Rougned Odor's solo shot in the 11th increased the Rangers' lead to four games over the Mariners in the American League West.
Texas (38-24) took control of the division by winning 16 of its last 21 games and its 6-2 lead in the season series over Seattle has helped. Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre took batting practice Saturday but is only available in case of an emergency Sunday after suffering a strained hamstring Wednesday. The Mariners (34-28) are 3-3 in their last six contests despite the rotation posting a 1.18 ERA during that span after their starters recorded a 9.33 ERA in the previous nine games. Texas' Cole Hamels is winless in his last three outings despite recording quality starts in his last two — both no-decisions — and opposes Wade Miley, who has won six straight decisions after losing his first two of the season.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Texas), ROOT (Seattle)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH Cole Hamels (5-1, 3.32 ERA) vs. Mariners LH Wade Miley (6-2, 5.27)
Hamels allowed two runs, four hits and four walks in seven innings of Texas' 4-3 victory over Houston on Tuesday. The 32-year-old Californian, who needs two strikeouts to become the seventh active pitcher with 2,000, has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.5 in 2016 — well off his career number of 3.7. Robinson Cano is 4-for-21 with two solo home runs versus Hamels, who is 4-2 with a 3.77 ERA in seven starts — 1-2, 4.66 in three outings in Seattle — after a 3-2 victory April 4 in Texas.
Miley yielded four hits in seven shutout innings of a 7-1 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Louisiana native was coming off a pair of no-decisions in which he permitted 14 runs and 18 hits in 8 2/3 innings. Miley is 1-3 with a 5.58 ERA in five starts versus the Rangers.
WALK-OFFS
1. Texas INF Jurickson Profar went 0-for-5 on Saturday to snap a career-best 13-game hitting streak, which started upon his promotion from Triple-A Round Rock on May 27.
2. The Mariners' Robinson Cano has 257 career home runs and his 246 as a second baseman are tied for the most in American League history with Joe Gordon (1938-43, 1946-50). Jeff Kent holds the major league record for homers by a second baseman with 351.
3. Rangers OF Shin-Soo Choo (hamstring) could rejoin the team Monday in Oakland after completing a rehab assignment with Double-A Frisco over the weekend.