Seattle Mariners Squander Lead, Drop Game 1 of Series Against Texas Rangers

SEATTLE — One-run games have been the Seattle Mariners kryptonite over the last month.

The Mariners dropped four one-run contests on a 10-game road trip before returning to home to T-Mobile Park on Tuesday. Unfortunately for them, that trend received a new entry in a 5-4 loss against the Texas Rangers on Thursday.

Seattle led 4-1 through six innings. Texas scored four unanswered runs in the final three innings to drop the Mariners to 74-73 on the season. The loss also bumped them 4.5 games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West.

“Tough loss tonight,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Thursday. “(Bryce Miller) gave us six pretty good innings. Six strong innings. And then turned it over the bullpen, tough eighth inning. Couple of ground balls, just a well-placed chopper and a ball off the glove and that’s a tough way to take it. It was a tough one to swallow tonight.”

The Rangers struck first after Josh Jung hit a solo home run to right field in the top of the second.

Before Jung’s homer, the Mariners left two runners stranded in scoring position in bottom of the first — something that came back to haunt Seattle later.

The Mariners tied the game after Justin Turner sent his 10th home run of the year to dead-center field in the bottom of the fourth.

Seattle took the lead after Randy Arozarena hit a two-RBI single and Cal Raleigh scored on a wild pitch. Those trio of scores put the Mariners up 4-1 through five.

Then the comeback began.

Troy Taylor relieved Mariners starter Miller in the top of the seventh after a six-inning, seven-strikeout quality start from the second-year hurler.

Nathaniel Lowe led off the inning with a solo homer to left field.

Then Collin Snider took the mound for Seattle in the eighth. Marcus Semien hit a solo shot to left field off him. In the same frame, Adolis Garcia grounded into a force out that scored Josh Smith.

Lowe capped the inning with an RBI single to give Texas the eventual final of 5-4. And what was a 4-1 Mariners lead disappeared just two innings later.

The damage could have been limited to just Semien’s home run, but Smith got on base after Seattle first baseman Luke Raley was dinged with a fielding error.

The Mariners had one more opportunity to take the lead or win in the bottom of the ninth after Victor Robles connected for a two-out single that gave the former World Series champion a 3-for-3 day.

Julio Rodriguez ended up striking out. His whiff left Robles stranded — the seventh runner left on base for the Mariners on the day. Seattle struck out 16 times in total.

The Mariners went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Seattle struck out in 50% of its at-bats. None of the four relievers fanned a batter. The Rangers rookie starter Kumar Rocker, who was making his major league debut Thursday, struck out seven Mariners. There were 11 chances to bring in the runner (or runners) that would have either tied or won the game for Seattle.

That’s bad. And with 15 games left in the season, there’s no more leash left for games like Thursday.

Jacob deGrom will make his season debut for Texas at 7:10 p.m. PT on Friday. Emerson Hancock is rumored to get the start for the the Mariners.

MARINERS STARTERS FOR DO-OR-DIE SERIES AGAINST RANGERS: The Seattle Mariners will hope their starting rotation can lead them to a series win in an upcoming four-game stretch against the Texas Rangers. CLICK HERE

MARINERS RIDE WOO’S PERFECT GAME BID TO VICTORY: Seattle Mariners starter Bryan Woo carried a perfect game bid into the seventh inning and was supported by a balanced offense in a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. CLICK HERE

BRASH TALKS ABOUT RECOVERY FROM TOMMY JOHN SURGERY: Seattle Mariners reliever Matt Brash took some time before Wednesday’s game against the San Diego Padres to comment on his recovery from Tommy John surgery, rejoining the team in a non-playing capacity and more. CLICK HERE

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