SEATTLE - Joc Pederson gave the Texas Rangers the early cushion that usually travels.
With Nicky Lopez on first and two outs in the third Thursday, Pederson drove a Logan Gilbert pitch 385 feet to right-center for his 26th home run and a 2-0 lead, ESPN's scoring summary shows. Lopez later added an RBI bunt, and Jacob deGrom held Seattle without a hit into the sixth. None of it held.
Julio Rodriguez's three-run homer in a four-run seventh carried the Mariners to a 4-3 win and left Pederson's blast as the loudest Texas swing in a game that slipped away.
Pederson finished 1-for-3 with two RBI. FantasyData and ESPN both list the homer as his only hit. Justin Foscue pinch-hit for him in the eighth and struck out.
Two-out power, then small ball
Lopez had singled to center before Pederson's drive. Reuters noted that the two-run shot opened the scoring and that Gilbert, who finished with 11 strikeouts over seven innings, was otherwise sharp against a lineup that managed only four hits. Pederson's second-out contact turned a quiet third into a lead deGrom protected for as long as he stayed on the mound.
The fifth inning padded it without another long ball. Evan Carter was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on catcher Cal Raleigh's throwing error, and scored when Lopez laid down a bunt that died near the mound. Jake Burger moved up on the play; Danny Jansen sacrificed; Pederson then grounded into a fielder's choice that cut down Burger at the plate.
That sequence was the last Texas run.
