Marco Gonzales twirls CG, pitches Mariners past Rangers
Marco Gonzales pitched a two-hit complete game and tied a career-high with nine strikeouts as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Texas Rangers 3-1 Thursday afternoon.
J.P. Crawford and Jake Fraley hit solo home runs for the Mariners, who took two of three games in the series between the American League West rivals.
Charlie Culberson went deep for the Rangers.
Gonzales (4-5) walked one and faced the minimum of three batters in eight innings. It was the Mariners' first complete game of the season and the first time a Seattle pitcher accomplished the feat since Gonzales did so last Aug. 31 against the Los Angeles Angels.
The game was played in two hours, eight minutes.
Culberson gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead when he lined a homer over the left-field wall with two outs in the second inning. Jason Martin followed by grounding a single into right, the only other hit Gonzales gave up.
The only other runner Gonzales allowed came on a walk to Jose Trevino leading off the sixth inning. The Rangers' Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined into a double play on the next pitch.
The Mariners tied the score in the fourth as Ty France grounded a one-out single into left field and moved to third as Abraham Toro hit a hard one-hopper that went off shortstop Kiner-Falefa's glove and into shallow left-center field. Rookie Jarred Kelenic lifted a sacrifice fly to left to make it 1-1.
Crawford hit a 400-foot shot off the facade of the second deck in right field with two outs in the fifth to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. It was Crawford's sixth homer of the season, with half of those coming off Rangers right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (2-11).
Fraley made it 3-1 with a two-out homer in the seventh to right-center field.
Foltynewicz pitched well -- he gave up three runs on six hits in seven innings, with no walks and six strikeouts -- but was again stung by the long ball. He has allowed a major-league high 33 home runs this season.
--Field Level Media