Baseball

Rangers improve to 4-0 since Rogers' outburst

Texas tops Seattle; controversial ace starts Sunday while appeal pending

In 12 games since returning from a tight left hamstring, Beltre is hitting .360 (18-for-50) with three home runs and nine RBIs, raising his average 20 points to .264

Mariners starter Joel Pineiro needed 30 pitches, including three 3-2 counts, just to get out of the first inning. The Rangers scored only once, on Hank Blalock’s single through the right side just past the diving Richie Sexson. Kevin Mench left the bases loaded when he swung through a 3-2 outside fastball.

C.J. Wilson, in his third major league start, also struggled in the first. He threw 26 pitches and walked three, including Raul Ibanez with the bases loaded.

Rod Barajas began the Rangers’ three-run second with a one-out walk. Dellucci singled and Young followed with a homer on the first pitch for a 4-1 lead.

The Mariners tied it in the third. Ichiro Suzuki singled and scored on Randy Winn’s double off the left-center wall. Beltre followed with a two-run shot to right.

The Rangers’ bullpen allowed just two hits in seven innings. John Wasdin, who took over for Wilson in the third, went 4 2-3 innings, allowing two hits while striking out five.

“The key to the game for them today was Wasdin,” Mariners second baseman Bret Boone said. “He came in early and shut us down for at least four innings. He pitched great.

“We came up one short. When things are going this way it seems like you come up one short when you play a good game.”

Notes: This was the 38th game in which the Rangers have had multiple home runs. ... The Mariners play just seven times at home over a 26-game period from June 24 through July 24. ... Kenny Rogers, suspended Friday for 20 days after a confrontation with a cameraman, will start Sunday for the Rangers while he’s appealing. Wasdin, who would have started in Rogers’ place, worked in relief Saturday. ... Pineiro is 5-0 in seven games against the Rangers.

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