Crawford’s two-out, walk-off hit lifts Mariners past Rangers

SEATTLE (AP) — J.P. Crawford stood together with his arms out, prepared to just accept the cooler crammed with water about to be dumped throughout his again. 

Even on a cold night time, the water and the celebration round it felt terrific after Crawford saved the Seattle Mariners playoff hopes very a lot alive. 

Crawford lined a two-run double with two out within the ninth inning, lifting the Mariners to a 3-2 win over Texas on Thursday night time and stopping the Rangers from clinching a playoff berth for no less than sooner or later.

“Honestly, all that was going through my head was just ‘get it done,’” Crawford stated. “Like I said earlier, just be him. There’s really nothing else to it. Keep it simple, do your job. End of story.” 

Crawford has been the spine to Mariners this season, even with a lot of the consideration being positioned on their terrific pitching or younger star Julio Rodríguez. But it was Crawford that helped carry Seattle by means of its struggles early within the season and to the purpose the place the ultimate three video games have an opportunity to be significant. 

The Mariners (86-73) pulled inside one recreation of idle Houston within the race for the ultimate AL wild card. Seattle additionally holds the tiebreaker over the Astros.

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“Tonight’s about fight,” Seattle supervisor Scott Servais stated. “You play all season long, spring training, all the work that goes into it and kind of comes down to you need to win a game, you need to get a big hit. And our guys found a way.”

Seattle’s rally within the ninth began with the primary three batters reaching in opposition to Aroldis Chapman (6-5) on two hits and a stroll. Jonathan Hernández then got here in and retired pinch-hitter Mike Ford on a fly ball to shallow middle. Josh Rojas fouled out for the second out, additionally not deep sufficient for Cal Raleigh to attain from third.

But Crawford went the opposite method and drove a 1-1 pitch over the top of left fielder Evan Carter, scoring Raleigh and Dylan Moore. The walk-off hit got here virtually a 12 months to the day of Crawford’s final one, which additionally got here in opposition to Texas and the place Moore scored the profitable run. 

“What J.P. brings every single day and the way he goes about it and the way he’s changed into a pacesetter on our ballclub, it exhibits up. Your greatest gamers acquired to play properly within the large moments and he did tonight.”

For a lot of the night time, it appeared as if the AL West-leading Rangers (89-70) can be celebrating.

Adolis García hit his thirty ninth homer and Jordan Montgomery pitched six innings of one-run ball. Leody Tavares additionally related for the Rangers, who managed simply three hits in opposition to Logan Gilbert.

“That’s a tough one, a lot of good things tonight, pitching great, at the end just got away, and that’s a tough one. We’ve got to bounce back,” Rangers supervisor Bruce Bochy stated. 

Tavares and García took benefit of the 2 errors Gilbert made, and the Rangers’ pitching made it rise up — till the ninth. Tavares hit his 14th homer on a fastball left in the course of the plate within the third inning, and García clubbed a slider with two outs within the fourth.

Gilbert struck out 5 in six innings. Aside from the 2 solo homers and an infield single from Corey Seager, he was masterful. He corrected the management issues that led to 4 walks final weekend in opposition to the Rangers and gave the Mariners an opportunity.

“They can cover a lot of pitches, especially in the middle of the order there, so it’s not easy but just comes down to execution,” Gilbert stated. 

Rodríguez hit his thirty second homer of the season main off the fourth inning, however that was solely time Seattle scored off Montgomery regardless of some visitors on the bases. Jose Caballero was thrown out at third base making an attempt to advance on Crawford’s base hit within the fifth. Eugenio Suárez was stranded after a leadoff double within the sixth.

Montgomery allowed 5 hits and struck out 5. He surrendered two earned runs over his last 27 innings of the common season.

“It’s only one loss, we’re still top of the division, and still kind of hold our own fate,” Montgomery stated. “We’re still a good team, (Chapman’s) a really important part of our team, and baseball’s hard some time. We’re just going to be good teammates to him, and keep supporting everybody, and keep doing what we do.”

Andres Munoz (4-7) earned the victory getting the final out of the ninth. 

UP NEXT

Rangers: Texas has not introduced a Friday starter, however it might be the flip for RHP Nathan Eovaldi if the Rangers keep on rotation. Eovaldi (12-4, 3.26 ERA) allowed 5 runs in 5 innings in opposition to Seattle final weekend and earned his first win since happening the injured record in late July.

Mariners: Seattle introduced postgame it’s going to begin RHP Bryan Woo, who gave up six runs in 3 1/3 innings vs. Texas final weekend. Woo (4-5, 4.39) has gained three of his previous 5 begins, however the three wins have been in opposition to Oakland twice and the Angels.

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