ARLINGTON, Texas _ The Mariners weren't facing the likes of Lance McCullers, Gerrit Cole or Charlie Morton, but it took them a little while _ roughly the first seven innings of their matchup with Texas Rangers on Friday night _ to realize that.
But the offense that had been held to two runs or fewer in the past five games awoke from its slumber in an impressive fashion in a 6-2 victory.
Jean Segura's two-run double in the top of the ninth broke 2-2 tie and ignited a four-run inning, allowing the Mariners to pull away to snap a three-game losing streak.
Daniel Vogelbach started the rally, hammering a laser off the wall in right center. Because of how hard the ball was hit and his known lack of foot speed, Vogelbach settled for a single and was replaced by pinch runner Andrew Romine. The Mariners bunted Romine to second and then got a single from Dee Gordon. After seeming incredulous at a pair of called strikes after working a 3-0 count, Segura knifed a line drive into right-center that scored both runners easily.
From there, the offense kept going. Kyle Seager ripped a line drive single to score another run and Mitch Haniger added more insurance with a run-scoring single to center _ his third hit of the game.
The Mariners got a solid start from Felix Hernandez, who worked the first five innings scoreless, allowing just two hits and using his entire repertoire to get a mixture of ground ball outs and strikeouts. He finally wobbled in the sixth inning while trying to prolong a 1-0 lead.
Hernandez gave up a leadoff double to Shin Soo-Choo _ just his third hit allowed in the game _ and then left a 2-2 curveball up in the zone that Nomara Mazara dumped into left for a one-out single that tied the game.
A misplaced curveball that hit his good friend Adrian Beltre in the hip ended Hernandez's night one batter later. He got no help from his bullpen, specifically left-handed specialist Marc Rzepczynski, who doesn't seem to be very adept at getting left-handers out anymore. Rzepczynski gave up a single to right to lefty-hitting Joey Gallo and a fielder's choice that allowed another run to score to make it 2-1.
The Mariners seemed destined to be held to just one run for the fourth time in six games, but Haniger smashed a solo homer to deep center with two outs in the eighth to tie the game at 2-2.
