David Murphy hit a two-run homer to break a scoreless tie and Tommy Hunter and three relievers combined on an eight-hit shutout as the Texas Rangers earned a 6-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.
Nelson Cruz, Elvis Andrus and Bengie Molina each drove in a run for Texas, which beat the Mariners for the 10th time in 13 games this season after capturing the three-game series.
Hunter (9-1) rebounded from his first loss of the campaign by allowing eight hits in 6 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Matt Harrison, Darren O’Day and Neftali Feliz followed and combined for 2 2/3 perfect innings.
Murphy, who gave Texas a 6-5 lead with a three-run homer in Wednesday’s 11-6 rout, belted his seventh blast for a 2-0 lead in the seventh. Andrus had an RBI single after Felix Hernandez walked Mike Moreland.
Texas scored three runs in the eighth, including an RBI double by Cruz.
Hernandez (7-9) allowed three runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings in suffering his fourth consecutive loss. The right-hander retired 14 in a row at one point, but the Rangers got to him in the seventh.
Seattle was 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Texas | Seattle | |
Tommy Hunter | Player | Felix Hernandez |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.1 | IP | 6.2 |
5 | Strikeouts | 3 |
8 | Hits | 8 |
0.00 | ERA | 4.05 |
Texas | Seattle | |
Vladimir Guerrero | Player | Chone Figgins |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |