ARLINGTON, Texas -- A pivotal road trip for the Seattle Mariners is off to a promising start.

Robinson Cano drove in three runs and Nelson Cruz homered as the Seattle Mariners moved two games above .500 for the second time this season by outslugging the Texas Rangers 8-7 at Globe Life Park.

The win moved the Mariners, who have won four straight, within 1 1/2 games of Kansas City for the second wild-card spot.

Seattle (55-53) was also two games above .500 on June 23 and reached that high-water mark again by handing Texas (50-56) its fourth straight loss, dropping the Rangers six below .500 for the time since May 9.

Joey Gallo belted two home runs for Texas.

"Our offense kept hanging in there," Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "When you put five up early, you think you're in good shape, but again we've played enough ballgames in this ballpark and know the kind of offense they have. You can't let your guard down. We stayed after it all night tonight."

The Mariners jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings and were able to blunt the Texas attempt to rally despite three homers.

Cruz got the Seattle offense going with a solo homer off Nick Martinez (3-4) to open the second inning. Leonys Martin added an RBI single later in the inning to make it 2-0.

Seattle pushed the lead to 5-0 in the third on an RBI double from Cano and run-scoring singles from Danny Valencia and Martin.

Texas got back into the game in the fourth inning with two home runs.

Rougned Odor's two-run homer -- his 24th of the season -- was followed by a blast to center from Gallo that trimmed the lead to 5-3 and ended the night for Seattle starter Erasmo Ramirez.

Ramirez, who hadn't started since he was with Tampa Bay on June 21, gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits in 3 1/3 innings.

The Mariners got those three runs back in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Jarrod Dyson and a two-run double by Cano. Gallo breathed life back into the Rangers in the bottom of the sixth, drilling a three-run homer to center -- his team-leading 27th, trimming the deficit to 8-6.

Texas got to within a run on a Mike Napoli run-scoring single in the seventh, but Nick Vincent struck out Carlos Gomez with the tying run at second. Dyson also threw out pinch-runner Delino DeShields at third base to end the eighth inning. That play proved pivotal because Adrian Beltre was on deck.

"I couldn't dive for the ball," Dyson said. "So I had to play it off a hop and play it safe. (Kyle) Seager made a great tag. I mean, it worked out perfectly. I take a lot of pride in it. I'm just going to come up and try to make plays. That's what I'm out there to do. Any time I can save a pitcher from throwing an extra pitch, I'm all for it."

Edwin Diaz notched his 21th save with a perfect ninth in support of reliever Casey Lawrence (1-3), who posted his first major league victory despite allowing three runs in 2 1/3 innings.

"We've been swinging the bat, that's obvious the offense seems likes it in play," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "The defense (seven errors in the series), we've got to shore that up. Then it's the situation where Nick Martinez battled. He didn't have his best stuff, didn't mix tonight. His curveball seemed to be not as sharp as we've seen in the past."

Martinez, who was taking the rotation spot of Yu Darvish, allowed seven runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"I was fighting my timing," Martinez said. "It would come back and I would lose it again. Our offense kind of jolted some energy back into me and I was able to put together a good fifth. Then I lost it again in the sixth. My mechanics were a little off in the timing, but my body and my arm feels great."

Dyson, Cano, Cruz, Valencia and Martin each had two hits for Seattle, which finished with 12. Shin-Soo Choo had three of the 12 Texas hits.

NOTES: Seattle OF Jarrod Dyson stole the 200th base of his career in the third inning. ... Seattle 2B Robinson Cano had two doubles, giving him 499 for his career and moving into 63rd all time, tied with Rusty Staub. ... Texas 2B Rougned Odor has seven homers in his last nine games.