First Win Is Always a Good Win

On the day before Jackie Robinson day the Mariners squared off against the Texas Rangers for the series finale. Brandon Maurer would take the mound after coming off 2 difficult loses against Nick Tepesch. Maurer began the first inning off very well by striking out 2 batters and not allowing a run in the first. The second inning Mitch Moreland doubled home Geovany Soto and the Rangers took the early 1-0, but Justin Smoak decided to hit a one out double to get into scoring position, Kyle Seager then doubled home Smoak to tie the game at 1-1. I'm really glad my dad had MLB At-Bat otherwise i would've had to watch the gameday on MLB.com. So back to the game shall we? Maurer continued to have a strong start then in the bottom of the fourth inning Raul Ibanez decided to give Maurer some runs by hitting his second homerun of the season and the Mariners took the lead 2-1.

In the top of the fifth the Rangers decided to go to work. Leury Garcia tripled with one out and thats what got the inning started for the Rangers. Elvis Andrus reached on a fielder's choice as Dustin Ackley made a nice throw home to get the speedy Garcia so Maurer now had two outs. Andrus stole second Craig Gentry was then hit by a pitch then Lance Berkman ripped a single up the middle that scored Andrus and the Rangers tied the game at 2-2. Gentry then scored on a passed ball that put the Rangers up 3-2. The Mariners now had a job to do.....get home some runs. Seager decided to start just that by doubling in the bottom of the sixth with one out. Jesus Montero, who is struggling this year, came up big by tying the game at 3-3 with a single up the middle scoring Seager.

Montero was able to advance to second on the throw from Nelson Cruz. That is what surprised me the most! But the Mariners weren't just done yet. Dustin Ackley who has also struggled this year came through in the clutch and drove in Montero and the M's took the 4-3 lead. Bobby LaFromboise then made his major league debut and it wasnt pretty as he went a third of an inning and did not have a lot of control so Eric Wedge decided to get him out of the game and brought in Stephen Pryor to try and get out of the inning without any damage. Pryor was able to get the job done by striking out the two batters he faced in the inning. In the top of the eight Pryor was taking out of the game because of tightness in his back. Oliver Perez came in a help out the M's and got out of the inning. In the ninth Tom Wilhelmsen came in and the Bartender got the job done by closing out the game for his fifth save of the year. The Mariners now improved to 6-8 and Maurer finally got that first major league win on his father's birthday (talk about a great birthday present huh). Now the M's got themselves a well deserved day off until the defending American League West champion Detroit Tigers.