Mariners 4, Rangers 3: Julio's Three-Run Shot After deGrom's 12 Ks

Fifteen in a row, then the bullpen inherited a 3-0 lead

September 10, 2026 - Seattle - Jacob deGrom retired the first 15 hitters and struck out 12. Cole Young finally singled off the pitcher's glove to lead off the sixth. That was the hit. That was almost the whole Mariners offense against him. Then deGrom left with a 3-0 lead and groin tightness, manager Skip Schumaker told the Associated Press, and the seventh inning belonged to someone else.

The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 at T-Mobile Park. Julio Rodríguez hit a three-run homer off Jakob Junis. Logan Gilbert struck out 11 in seven innings and got the win. Two Stetson guys dueled, per the AP recap, and the one who left early lost.

Cloudy, 68 degrees, wind left to right at 3 mph. Attendance 24,784. Game time 2 hours, 30 minutes. Texas dropped three games behind Houston in the AL West and two games back of the last wild card. Seattle trails that last wild-card spot by five.

Pederson's 26th, then a bunt that made it 3-0

Nicky Lopez singled in the third. Joc Pederson hit a fly ball to right-center for his 26th homer. 2-0. DeGrom had already punched out eight of his first nine, the fifth time he has done that, the AP recap said. Corey Seager took a called third strike that Cal Raleigh challenged. The call was overturned. Strike three anyway.

The fifth added one more without a homer. Evan Carter was hit by a pitch. Jake Burger walked. Lopez bunted back to Gilbert and beat it, Carter scoring. 3-0. Danny Jansen sacrificed. Pederson bounced into a play at the plate, Burger out at home. Lopez was thrown out at the plate later in the inning. Texas had a 3-0 lead and two outs at home in the same frame. It still looked like deGrom's night.

Gilbert was not quiet. He struck out 11. He became Seattle's first pitcher with consecutive double-digit strikeout games since James Paxton in 2018, the AP recap said. The combined punchouts were the most by starting pitchers in the majors this season. Gilbert also tagged Wyatt Langford at the plate in the seventh after a pitch bounced away from Raleigh. Langford had walked, moved up on two groundouts, and died at home. 3-0 still.

DeGrom's line: six innings, one hit, no runs, no walks, 12 strikeouts, 92 pitches. Highest strikeout total since Sept. 19, 2022, for the Mets against Pittsburgh. Young’s sixth-inning single was the only ball that found grass. Then the groin, and Junis.

Four in the seventh on four batters

Junis (1-3) did not record an out. He hit Randy Arozarena to start the seventh. Dominic Canzone singled to left, Arozarena scoring. 3-1. Raleigh singled. Rodríguez swung at the first pitch, a sinker, and lined his 21st homer to left-center. Canzone scored. Raleigh scored. 4-3. Ten pitches. Three hits. One HBP. A blown save and a loss in the same box-score note.

Gilbert finished the seventh. Josh Naylor struck out. Young flew out. Lazaro Montes struck out. The Mariners had four hits as a club. They needed all of them in one inning. Rodríguez's homer was the extra-base hit. Canzone's single was the first run. Raleigh's single was the traffic. That is a 4-3 win built on one swing and a bullpen that could not throw a first-pitch strike to the right people.

Gabe Speier threw a scoreless eighth for his 20th hold. Andrés Muñoz walked two with two outs in the ninth, Langford and Carter, then got Burger to bounce to Young behind second. The force at second just beat Carter. Texas challenged. The call stood. Muñoz's 27th save in 36 chances. Not clean. Closed.

Two good starts, one scoreboard

Brandon Nimmo went 0-for-4. Seager went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Texas had four hits. Lopez had two of them and an RBI. Pederson had the homer and two RBI and later bounced into the play at the plate. Carter scored once, stole a base, and walked in the ninth. The Rangers did everything except finish a 3-0 game after their starter left.

Seattle is 69-78. Texas is 72-75. Gilbert (12-9) went seven: three hits, three runs, two walks, 11 strikeouts, 100 pitches. He allowed Pederson's homer and Lopez's bunt single and still walked off with a win because Junis could not get one out. DeGrom had the line of the night in a loss. That is allowed. It is also the kind of Thursday that makes a wild-card race feel smaller than the box score.

Texas opens a series at Arizona. Seattle just took a one-run game from a club it is chasing. Rodríguez's 21st is the clip. DeGrom's 12 strikeouts are the one that will bother Texas on the flight.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put deGrom at 31 pitching fantasy points, the top pitcher total on the slate, in a loss. Gilbert checked in at 23. Rodríguez had 7 hitting FP. Pederson had 6. Seattle finished with 8 team FP, tied for second. Texas finished at 1. Twelve strikeouts and a zero through six will top a board even when the seventh inning does not hold.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*