Seattle, WA – Matt Harrison continued his outstanding season with his second shutout of 2012, and the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-0, to win a three-game series at Safeco Field.
Harrison (12-4) tossed a five-hitter for his third win over Seattle this season, giving Texas its fourth win in five games overall. He walked four batters and struck out only three, needing 114 pitches to complete the game.
It continues an impressive stretch of performances for the lefty, who has failed to yield more than two runs in any of his last seven starts. In his last 10 starts, the Rangers have won nine games, with the only loss coming in his last outing, a complete game, 2-1 loss to the White Sox.
"It feels good," Harrison said. "It's a good start for the second half for me, and I hope to continue building on that. I had a lot of trouble in the first few innings with my command, but I was able to make them put it in play. The defense kept making play after play, so I owe a lot of this game to them."
Ian Kinsler homered, and Adrian Beltre drove in two for Texas, which improved to 7-6 against the Mariners this season.
Michael Saunders was the only Seattle player with multiple hits as the Mariners fell for the sixth time in eight games. Hisashi Iwakuma (1-2) was dealt the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits and three walks in five innings.
"Iwakuma and the bullpen, they pitched well to keep an offense like Texas down to four runs and give us every opportunity to stay in and win a ballgame," Saunders said. "We just didn't come through."
The Rangers got all the offense they needed in the first inning when Kinsler scored on a Josh Hamilton groundout, leaving Harrison to put together a masterpiece.
Harrison was shaky early, though, putting two runners on in each of the first two innings before escaping. Beltre gave his pitcher a little more breathing room in the third when he laced a bases-loaded single to left to score two for a 3-0 advantage.
From there, Harrison was able to settle down for a bit, retiring the Mariners in order in the third and fourth, leading to Kinsler's leadoff homer in the fifth.
Seattle threatened in the fifth with two runners on and two outs, but Casper Wells flied out to end the inning. In the seventh, Brendan Ryan grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The last six Mariners went down meekly, including a seven-pitch ninth inning that allowed Harrison to collect his fourth career shutout.
Game Notes
It was the sixth career complete game for Harrison...The Rangers won their first division road series this year. They had been 0-3-0...Texas is 10-1-0 in its last 11 series...Harrison has won eight straight starts against the Mariners...Sunday marked the 13th anniversary of the opening of Safeco Field.
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