SEATTLE — Rougned Odor’s solo home run off Mariners reliever Mike Montgomery in the 11th inning lifted the Texas Rangers to a 2-1 victory over Seattle on Saturday night.
After keeping Texas scoreless for the first 26 outs of the game, Prince Fielder’s two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth inning forced the game into extra frames. With both teams failing to break the tie in the 10th inning, Odor’s blast into the right field seats off Montgomery (2-1) gave the Rangers their first lead of the night.
Norichika Aoki was hit by a Sam Dyson pitch on the right knee to put a baserunner on for Seattle. An infield single from Nelson Cruz put two runners on with two outs, but Kyle Seager flew out to right field as Dyson earned his ninth save of the season.
Matt Bush (2-0) picked up the victory in relief.
James Paxton had his best outing of the season since being called up to replace an injured Felix Hernandez in the Mariners’ rotation. The left-hander threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings allowed just two walks and six hits with six strikeouts in shutting down the Rangers’ lineup.
Colby Lewis was equally as impressive for Texas. He allowed just three hits over eight innings with no walks and struck out three.. Outside of Adam Lind’s solo home run, only Steve Clevenger reached scoring position for Seattle on a one-out double in the third inning. Clevenger was stranded at third after groundouts from Ketel Marte and Aoki.
Paxton got in trouble after walking the first two batters in the fourth inning. A groundout ball from Odor hit baserunner Nomar Mazara in the heel to record the first out of the inning. A fielder’s choice by Ryan Rua and a strikeout of Fielder stranded Ian Desmond at third base to keep the game scoreless.
Lind provided the only offensive output of the game for either side. Lind lofted a changeup from Lewis into the Mariners’ bullpen behind the left field wall to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
Paxton allowed a pair of one-out singles to Mitch Moreland and Bobby Wilson in the bottom of the fifth inning, but bounced back with strikeouts of Jurickson Profar and Desmond to keep Texas off the scoreboard.
Up next
Rangers LHP Cole Hamels (5-1, 3.32 ERA) allowed just two runs on four hits over seven innings in his only start against Seattle this season on opening day.
Mariners LHP Wade Miley (6-2, 5.27 ERA) is 0-1 with an 8.25 ERA in two starts against Texas this season.
