Seattle, WA – Blake Beavan spun seven-plus scoreless innings and Michael Saunders knocked in the lone run with a homer in the second, as the Seattle Mariners blanked the Texas Rangers, 1-0, on Saturday.
Beavan (10-10) scattered eight hits and walked one with two strikeouts to snap a personal two-game skid. Josh Kinney retired all three batters he faced in the eighth before Tom Wilhelmsen fired a perfect ninth for his 29th save of the season.
"It wasn't an individual win," Kinney said. "You look around (in the clubhouse) and everyone's tickled cause we just took two from the number one team in the division."
Justin Smoak, Jesus Montero and Kyle Seager added two hits apiece for the Mariners, who have taken the first two contests of this three-game set.
Matt Harrison (17-10) had his 10-start winning streak against the Mariners halted despite a solid outing. He scattered seven hits and walked four with six strikeouts while going the distance.
The Rangers have now lost back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 13-15, snapping a franchise-record streak of 34 games without consecutive losses.
Texas maintained a four-game lead over Oakland in the AL West after the A's dropped an extra-inning decision against New York earlier Saturday.
Saunders smacked a one-out shot into the seats in right-center field.
"I didn't really make a mistake," Harrison said of Saunders' homer. "It's where I wanted it to be, but (he) got extension on it and got it."
Texas had a chance to answer in the fourth when Nelson Cruz reached on a force out and David Murphy followed with a two-out double. Cruz tried to score from first, but was thrown out at the plate by second baseman Seager to end the inning.
Beavan ran into trouble in the eighth when Mitch Moreland ripped a leadoff double and Craig Gentry worked a walk, but Kinney struck out back-to-back Rangers around a groundout to escape the frame.
Wilhelmsen grounded out the side in the ninth.
Game Notes
Harrison fell to 10-2 in 14 career starts against Seattle ... Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 11 games ... Wilhelmsen extended his scoreless innings streak to 11 1/3 frames.
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