ARLINGTON, Texas _ Sure, the runs _ a season-high_ and the homers are the easy things to remember from Saturday night. Maybe it's because the Seattle Mariners went the better part of two months without getting either on a consistent basis. And it ultimately led to a fade from the wild-card race and another postseason spent as spectators.
But the most important aspect of the Seattle's 13-0 win over the Rangers wasn't Robinson Cano's three-run homer and RBI double. It wasn't Mike Zunino's 20th homer. And it wasn't a triple from Kyle Seager followed by a two-run homer from Dee Gordon and which occurrence was more rare.
No, while these games may count for the 2018 record, there is a shift of focus to 2019. And Marco Gonzales' strong outing in his 28th start is something the Mariners believe will pay dividends next season.
In his third start since coming off the disabled list, Gonzales delivered a brilliant outing, pitching six shutout innings while allowing just one hit with a walk and three strikeouts to improve to 13-9. Gonzales threw just 78 pitches in the process.
The one walk came on the first batter of the game. He retired 17 of the next 18 batters. The lone hit allowed came with one out in the third on a single to center from Delino DeShields. Gonzales quickly erased the base runner by getting Jurickson Profar to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Gonzales pushed his career-high innings to 161 1/3 innings and looked strong doing so. The break from the stint on the disabled list for a strained muscle has allowed him to recharge his arm and also work on a few minor mechanical issues. It led to a start similar to the 12-start stretch he had midseason where he posted a 9-2 record with a 2.61 ERA.
The Mariners' offense, which has shown a rebirth now that they have essentially been eliminated from the postseason, banged out 15 hits, including the three homers, five doubles and a triple.
Cano is finally returning to the offensive force the Mariners had hoped he would be in his return from an 80-game suspension. He gave Seattle a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, crushing a laser of a three-run homer to dead center off of Texas starter Mike Minor.
Zunino made it 4-0, launching a solo shot to left in the sixth inning off of reliever Alex Claudio. Despite all of his struggles this season, it was the second straight year, and third time in his career, he has hit 20 or more homers.
The Mariners turned the game into rout in the eighth inning against 44-year-old Bartolo Colon, who looked tired and ready for the season to be done.
Seager "tripled" to right on a low liner that got past Nomar Mazara and rolled to the wall. Gordon ambushed the first pitch he saw from Colon, sending a flyball just over the wall in right for his third homer.
Nelson Cruz drove in two more runs against one-time Mariners' reliever Zac Curtis, who also plated another with a passed ball.
