Julio Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season and Logan Gilbert pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings as the Seattle Mariners moved into first place in the American League West with a 4-0 victory against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas.
Cal Raleigh also went deep for Seattle, which won for the sixth time in its past seven games to nudge a half-game ahead of the defending World Series champion Rangers. The Mariners also won at Globe Life Field for the first time since 2022 after going winless in six games there last season.
Gilbert (2-0) allowed just two hits, a two-out double to left field by Josh Smith in the fourth inning and a leadoff double by Nathaniel Lowe in the seventh. Gilbert, a right-hander, walked four and struck out six.
Mariners reliever Ryne Stanek got Leody Taveras to ground out with two runners on for the final out in the seventh, Gabe Speier fanned two in a 1-2-3 eighth and Andres Munoz got a game-ending double play in the ninth after Lowe had singled with one out.
Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning (2-2) took the loss. He gave up four runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Raleigh hit his team-leading sixth homer of the season in the first inning, a two-run shot to right field on an 0-2 fastball. Raleigh’s fourth homer in the past five games also scored J.P. Crawford, who had led off with a double.
Rodriguez hit a 435-foot blast into the second deck in left-center field with one out in third on a 1-0 sinker to double Seattle’s lead to 4-0. Josh Rojas, who had led off the inning with a double, also scored.
It was the opener of a nine-game homestand for the Rangers, who went 5-5 on their just-completed 10-game trip to Houston, Detroit and Atlanta.
