Yusei Kikuchi pitched six strong innings as the Seattle Mariners returned from a three-day break with a 6-3 victory against the visiting Texas Rangers on Friday night.

J.P. Crawford hit a three-run homer for the Mariners (16-22), who won their third in a row. Seattle had a three-game midweek series against the Oakland Athletics postponed because of a positive COVID-19 test in the A's organization.

Kikuchi (2-2) allowed one run on two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts to post his second consecutive victory.

Jose Trevino homered for the Rangers (13-24), who suffered their third consecutive defeat.

Texas right-hander Kyle Cody (0-1), who was making his first major league start, took the loss despite not allowing an earned run in three innings. Cody gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two.

The Mariners opened the scoring in the second. Kyle Seager led off with a walk on a 3-2 count and advanced on a wild pickoff attempt by Cody. Ty France, making his Mariners debut after being acquired from San Diego at the Aug. 31 trade deadline, grounded a run-scoring single into left field.

The Mariners added to their lead in the fourth off left-hander John King. With one out, Seager was hit by a pitch, France walked and Jose Marmolejos grounded a sharp single into right field to load the bases. Rookie Evan White lined the next pitch into left for a two-run double, making it 3-0.

Trevino's solo shot to left came with one out in the top of the fifth. The only other hit the Rangers managed against Kikuchi was a one-out single in the fourth by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but he was erased when Nick Solak grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Crawford's three-run shot in the eighth off left-hander Taylor Hearn increased Seattle's lead to 6-1.

The Rangers tallied twice in the ninth on Kiner-Falefa's run-scoring single and Solak's sacrifice fly off right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano.

Mariners right-hander Kendall Graveman, who had been sidelined since Aug. 2 by a benign bone tumor in his spine, replaced Kikuchi and pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

--Field Level Media