Mariners beat Rangers for 88th win in season’s penultimate game

On what might be the last warm evening for months, before the rain and cold of fall dig into the Puget Sound area and the only baseball being watched will be on television, the Mariners offered one last glance of what they were in the first months of the 2018 season. 

But their performance on Saturday night also served as disappointing reminder of what they failed to be in the key months of July and August when they had an 11-game lead and were working toward their first playoff appearance since 2001, which was erased by the Oakland A’s.

With a crowd of 31,780 packed into Safeco Field, the Mariners got a solid start from their best starting pitcher, a fair amount off offense in support and shutout work from the back of their bullpen, including save No. 57 for Edwin Diaz in a 4-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.

“It was kind of our formula for most of the year,” M’s manager Scott Servais said. “Really consistent starting pitching that got us deep in the game, the game is tight and often times — well, certainly in the first half of the season — we find a way to get the big hit. That’s what we did tonight.”

The ninth inning provided more drama than necessary when second baseman Dee Gordon, who had started the game in center field, booted a routine ground ball that should have been the third out of the inning. The Rangers loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and infield single, but Diaz came back to strike out Jurickson Profar to end the inning.

“It got a little more interesting than I was hoping for,” Servais said.

Seattle improved to 88-73, which ties the 2007 club for sixth-most victories in a season in franchise history. The Mariners will close out another season without the playoffs on Sunday afternoon with lefty Roenis Elias taking the mound. 

“If you start off the season slow and you end hot as heck, it just has a different feel about it,” Servais said. “It is a disappointment. At the end of the day, 88 or 89 wins or whatever we end up with, it is an accomplishment. It’s one of the better years in Mariners history. But unfortunately, we haven’t gotten over that hump, and that’s getting back to the postseason. A lot of good things overall, but it’s still disappointing.”

Making his final start of the season, Mariners lefty James Paxton delivered a strong outing, but didn’t figure in the decision. Paxton pitched six innings, allowing just one run on seven hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.

The one run came in the first inning when Adrian Beltre laced a two-out double off the wall in right-center to score Rougned Odor.

Paxton made 28 starts, posting an 11-6 record with a 3.76 ERA. He pitched 161 1/3 innings, striking out 208 batters and walking just 42. 

“Pax had a solid season, I know the injuries took away from what the overall numbers could have been,” Servais said.

The starts, strikeouts and innings pitched were career highs for Paxton.

“It was OK, but I’m not pleased with some of it,” Paxton said. “Obviously, I want to be out there the whole time. I think after I got hurt it took me awhile to get going again, and I never really got my feet back under me again and never got going real solid.”

While there has often been much lament about Paxton’s proclivity for being injured, he did stay relatively healthy save for a few fluke incidents.

His only stint on the disabled list came after taking a 95-mph line drive off his left forearm on Aug. 14. He returned to the rotation on Aug. 31. A bout with a combination of influenza and pneumonia shut him down for 10 days in September when the Mariners were out of the playoff race. But he never had any issues with his arm. 

“My arm was great this year, which was awesome,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep it that way next year.”

His goal is to reach 30-plus starts and 200 innings in 2019.

“I’m looking at next year to stay healthy the whole time, so I can get that consistency and stay at the top of my game longer,” he said.

Rangers starter Adrian Sampson delivered a solid outing in the loss. The former Skyline standout and one-time Mariners prospect pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts in front of a large group of family and friends.

The broken-toe brothers of Kyle Seager and Gordon broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh against Sampson. Seager, who has broken left big toe, led off with a double to left-center. With two outs, Gordon, who has a broken right big toe, tripled into the right-field corner to give Seattle a 2-1 lead.

The Mariners tacked on two more runs as Jean Segura, who was benched for not hustling on Friday night, notched his third hit of the night — an RBI single that scored Gordon. Robinson Cano added a RBI single to right off of tough lefty Alex Claudio to score Mitch Haniger.

With a 4-1 lead, right-hander Alex Colome worked a scoreless eighth and Diaz, pitching in a save situation for the first time in 10 days, worked a scoreless ninth to add to his MLB-leading save total.

Diaz’s 57 saves in a season are tied for the second most in MLB history with Bobby Thigpen of the White Sox.

“It’s incredible. I was thinking about a 40-save season,” he said. “And I got 57.”

Servais just shook his head at the number.

“It’s unbelievable,” Servais said. “It’s some kind of season. It’s so hard to do that. He’s a special talent, and it’s been so fun to watch him mature and see how far he’s come. I’m very thankful to have him at the back end of the bullpen.”