ARLINGTON, Texas — Marcus Semien's line single into the left field corner scored Leody Taveras as the Texas Rangers rallied from a five-run deficit in a 6-5, walk-off win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
The Mariners (80-76) dropped two games back in a tight, four-team wild card race with three AL Central teams, and likely only two of that quartet will make the playoffs.
Detroit and Kansas City are both 82-74, tied for the final two playoffs spots and four games behind wild card-leading Baltimore. All have six games to play.
Minnesota (81-75) began the day as the third wild card, but is now a game back of its division rivals. The Twins got swept in a doubleheader at Boston, and Seattle missed a chance to catch them after blowing a 5-0 lead in Texas.
“These guys have faced that challenge a lot during the last couple of weeks,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “We talked about it a lot (and) how they’ve been able to be resilient, to bounce back and be ready to play the next day. We’re going to have to do it again.”
The Mariners, five games behind the Astros in the AL West, open a three-game series in Houston on Monday.
Texas, last year's World Series champion, was eliminated from postseason contention on Friday. The Rangers (74-82) won their home finale to avoid being swept by the Mariners.
“It hasn’t been the year we wanted,” Semien said. “Glad we ended it like that. We just want to finish strong.”
Taveras tied the score at 5-all with a solo homer in the seventh inning and finished with three hits — all from the sixth inning onward.
The Mariners led 5-0 on Dylan Moore’s RBI single in the second inning, Cal Raleigh’s solo home run in the third and a three-run sixth that included Victor Robles singling in two runs, stealing second base and scoring when a pickoff attempt led to two Texas errors.
The Rangers countered by cutting the deficit to one run in the sixth on an RBI single by Josh Smith and a three-run homer by Wyatt Langford off starter Bryan Woo, who allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings.
Raleigh hit his career-best 31st home run. Andrés Muñoz (3-7) took the loss.
Texas starter Andrew Heaney allowed four earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 5 2/3 innings. Kirby Yates (7-2) worked an inning of relief and earned the victory.
TAKING TWO FOR THE TEAM
The Mariners needed only two innings to tie and break the modern record for being hit by pitches in a season at 113. Raleigh was plunked by an 85 mph slider from Heaney in the first inning, and J.P. Crawford was tagged by a 90 mph fastball from Heaney in the second. The mark of 112 was held by the 2022 New York Mets.
SCHERZER'S FUTURE
Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, placed on the injured list on Saturday with a hamstring strain, said he would like to return to the Texas Rangers after his contract expires next week.
"But I also know when you're a free agent, you know, I've been in free agency two other times in my career. I get how this goes," the 40-year-old Scherzer said.
Scherzer made 17 regular-season starts for the Rangers over a season and a half and pitched twice in last year's ALCS and once in the World Series.
UP NEXT
Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (11-8, 3.06 ERA) will open a three-game series at Houston on Monday against Astros RHP Hunter Brown (11-8, 3.57 ERA).
Rangers RHP Nathan Eovaldi (11-8, 3.96) will face Oakland RHP Mitch Spence (8-9, 4.30) on Tuesday in the opener of the Athletics' final home series before they relocate to Sacramento next season with plans to move to Las Vegas in 2028.