SEATTLE _ Give how bad they were in each aspect the last few seasons _ and bad might be an underselling description when awful, abysmal or terrible might seem more applicable _ it made sense when manager Scott Servais would often predict/guarantee that this 2020 Mariners would be much better on defense and at running the bases.
It might take years of therapy for Servais to remove the memories of Tim Beckham at shortstop, Ryon Healy at third base and Domingo Santana in the outfield or Ben Gamel trying unsuccessfully to advance from second base to third base on groundballs to shortstop.
Given the skillset of the players on this roster, it had to be better. But that improvement has offered multiple examples in this optimal stretch of quality baseball from the Mariners, including two standout plays _ one in the field and one on the bases in a big seventh inning _ that secured a 4-3 win over the Rangers.
"We are a totally different team," Servais said in a postgame video call. "No doubt about it. It's fun to watch it every day. You can score runs in a number of ways, you can prevent runs in a number of ways. It's just not _ hit the ball over the fence and hope you strike everybody out. Everybody's contributing."
The Mariners won their fifth game in a row _ their longest winning streak of the season. It's their 11th victory in their last 15 games. With an 18-22 record, they are flirting with reaching the .500 mark.
Meanwhile, the Rangers' freefall continued. They have lost five in a row and 17 of their last 21 games to fall to 13-26.
The key defensive play came in the top of the 7th with Mariners clinging to a 3-2 lead. Texas appeared on the cusp of tying the game with two outs when Leodys Taveas slashed a line drive to left-center off of lefty Anthony Misiewicz. Derek Dietrich, the runner on first was running on contact with the intent to score on ball that seemed destined to roll to the wall.
However, centerfielder Kyle Lewis, running at full sprint, managed to impede the ball's progress and knock it down. He gathered it quickly and fired to cutoff man J.P. Crawford, who wheeled and fired a one-hop rocket to catcher Joe Odom. Fielding a shorthop with a catcher's mitt while a running is coming at you is one of the most difficult plays in baseball. Odom executed it perfectly, grabbing the ball, putting the tag down on Dietrich inches before his foot hit the plate.
"That was the play of the game," Servais said. "It's fun to see the guys in the dugout. They were about as excited to see that they executed that play as they are any time one of those guys hits a home run. It really meant a lot to them."
After two stellar outings where he became the first pitcher in club history to record back-to-back outings of at least six innings pitched and one hit or fewer allowed, rookie right-hander Justin Dunn couldn't quite replicate the same results for a third straight outing.
He pitched six innings, which seemed like a minor miracle considering it took him 46 pitches to make it through two innings due shaky command and three walks. But like he has done in multiple starts this season, Dunn made an adjustment, found some rhythm, posted a shutdown inning whenever his teammates gave him runs and then kept on going.
Considering the shaky start and the myriad of lefties in the Rangers lineup, Dunn's ability to get through six innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts, might have been more impressive than his previous two starts. In speaks to his maturity and competitive nature to reel things in when they start to speed up or get out of control.
After a 21-pitch first inning where he walked two batters but was aided by a caught stealing, Dunn gave up a majestic solo homer to Joey Gallo that landed in an area of T-Mobile Park where only four other hitters have deposited baseballs.
With his upper-cut swing, Gallo crushed a 1- 2 fastball that was rocketed skyward down the right-field line. It carried over, yes, over the right-field foul pole and landed in the third deck of the right-field stands, above the suites that sit above the Hit It Here Cafe.
He became just the fifth player to hit a ball into the third deck in a game, joining Carlos Delgado, Mo Vaughn, Nomar Mazara and Daniel Vogelbach.
But it only counted for one run and Dunn made the 2-1 lead stand up until his teammates made it 3-1 in the fourth inning when Kyle Lewis hit his ninth homer of the season � a solo blast into dead center.
Dunn's only other run allowed came via solo homer in the fifth inning when lead-off hitter Leodys Taveras sat on a first-pitch breaking ball and hit his second homer of the season � a line drive into the right-field seats that cut the lead to 3-2.
Seattle tacked on a big insurance run late in the game when Shed Long Jr. singled home pinch runner Dylan Moore.
That loomed large when Yoshihisa Hirano gave up a solo homer with one out in the ninth inning to Ronald Guzman, bringing the tying run to the plate twice in the inning. But Hirano regrouped to strike out Derek Dietrich and Anderson Tejada to end the game.
