Nothing comes easily for M's ahead of finale vs. Rangers

At some point this season, the Seattle Mariners will coast to a victory.

It appeared that might be the case on Saturday, when they carried a six-run lead into the ninth inning against the visiting Texas Rangers.

But nothing has been easy for these Mariners.

Closer Andres Munoz, who blew a four-run lead in a 7-6 loss Wednesday at San Diego, was forced to make an entrance in the ninth on Saturday with two outs and the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.

Munoz struck out Brandon Nimmo for the final out in a 7-3 victory as the Mariners beat the American League West co-leaders for the first time in five meetings this season. The current three-game series will conclude Sunday afternoon in Seattle.

"It feels a lot better," said Munoz, comparing Saturday to his previous outing. "We still have a lot of work to do. I've been working a lot these (last) couple days to get to this point. Obviously, we are not there yet, but it makes me feel a lot better that we are going in the right direction."

Seattle's George Kirby (3-2) allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in improving to 9-1 in his career starts against Texas. Luke Raley homered as the Mariners snapped a four-game skid.

Josh Jung went deep for the Rangers, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.

Texas had its chances on Saturday, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 16 on base.

"We kept putting pressure on, had the right guys up, the hot hitters up and just couldn't get that big hit," manager Skip Schumaker said. "I loved the battle, loved the at-bats. We did not chase today, for the most part, against a really tough pitcher."

The Mariners were without third baseman and leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan, who left after the third inning Friday with discomfort in his left hip.

Donovan, who had offseason surgery for a sports hernia, has missed time with hip and groin issues this season.

"It's something that you have to closely monitor and keep watching," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. "It's a big surgery, and he did a great job of getting through it, getting through spring training, and the slow ramp-up in spring training. Now that we're into the season, it's just continued monitoring."

Sunday's series finale will feature Rangers left-hander MacKenzie Gore (2-1, 3.00 ERA) against Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (0-2, 2.16).

The two squared off April 8 in Arlington, Texas, with Gore and the Rangers winning 3-0. Gore pitched five scoreless innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts while Woo gave up one earned run (three overall) on five hits over five frames.

Gore, who suffered a 2-1 loss to the host Athletics on Tuesday in West Sacramento, Calif., is 2-0 with an 0.50 ERA in three career starts against Seattle.

Woo, who lost 4-1 Tuesday at San Diego despite pitching seven solid innings, is 2-3 with a 4.12 ERA in eight previous starts vs. the Rangers.

--Field Level Media