SEATTLE — Three Texas Rangers relievers combined for 4 scoreless innings Wednesday afternoon after Cody Bradford left a 3-1 game at T-Mobile Park. Tyler Alexander, Trevor Williams, and Robby Ahlstrom allowed 2 hits and 1 walk, and the Seattle Mariners held on for a 3-2 win. With Texas down two runs after four innings, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said he went to relievers who were available to chase, in comments reported by MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry.
“You have to make a decision if you want to start chasing or not at that point,” Schumaker said. “Watching it, we felt it was time to kind of make the move and go to some guys that were available to go ahead and chase. They kept it at three runs, so I think they did a heck of a job. We only got one run after the second inning, so that’s tough.”
Tyler Alexander, Trevor Williams, and Robby Ahlstrom Cover Four Innings
Alexander pitched the fifth and sixth. He entered the day with a 3.30 ERA and 4 saves. Williams pitched the seventh, and Ahlstrom pitched the eighth.
Seranthony Domínguez pitched the seventh for Seattle. Corey Seager led off the eighth by hitting a first-pitch sinker from left-hander Gabe Speier just over the left-field fence for his 17th homer. Andrés Muñoz pitched a hitless ninth, walked 1, and struck out 2 for his 26th save.
Bradford recorded 12 outs on 63 pitches. Schumaker wants length from his starters.
“Typically, it takes good starting pitching with length,” Schumaker explained. “Went to our bullpen early. Bullpen did an excellent job.”
Jacob Latz and Jakob Junis Stay Down Before Thursday’s Finale
Jacob Latz has 28 saves and a 1.85 ERA over 63 1/3 innings. Jakob Junis has a 2.74 ERA and 6 saves. Neither pitched Tuesday or Wednesday. In Tuesday’s 10-5 win, Robert Garcia worked the seventh in his first major league appearance since April, and Adam Macko covered the eighth and ninth. After that game, Schumaker said the margin let his leverage relievers reset.
“And tonight we had to use a couple guys out of the pen, but our offense provided a lot of cushion, which we really needed,” Schumaker said Tuesday, “so we can have another day kind of reset from our leverage guys, which is hopefully a big, big deal going into tomorrow.”
Jacob deGrom (10-9, 3.96 ERA) starts Thursday’s series finale against Logan Gilbert (11-9, 3.71 ERA) at 3:10 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network. Texas (72-74) is two games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and 1 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third American League wild card.
