Texas' 5-game win streak ends, Seattle tops AL West leaders
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Jeff Banister couldn't get a replay when Seattle's Ketel Marte grounded a two-run double over the third base bag.
And long after the Texas manager had been ejected over the dispute, a review on another close play at third was overturned when the original call favored the Rangers.
The resulting 3-1 loss to the Mariners on Friday night snapped a five-game winning streak for AL West-leading Texas a day after the Rangers finished off a four-game sweep of Houston that gave them the division lead. The Astros stayed 2 1-2 games behind with a 4-3 loss to Oakland.
The first of Marte's two doubles bounced twice on the line in the second inning, then went over the inside of the third base bag and hit close to the line again as umpire Chris Guccione signaled it fair.
Logan Morrison and Brad Miller, who also had a double just inside the foul line in left, scored. Marte came home on a bloop single by Kyle Seager.
"That's a tough inning," Banister said. "Two balls threaded down the line, one questionable and then a flop shot, which those happen in the game of baseball."
Banister moved to the top step of the dugout after Marte's double to indicate the Rangers were checking the replay, but soon came out for a heated discussion with Guccione, who eventually ejected him.
Replay rules state that fair-foul calls are not reviewable when the ball bounces in front of the base umpire. Banister tried to argue that Guccione moved his feet, making it a reviewable play.
"I was told it was non-reviewable," Banister said.
In the eighth inning, Andre Beltre matched his career high with his third walk and later was called safe by Guccione going from second to third when a pitch bounced away from Seattle catcher Jesus Sucre with no outs.
Seager's foot appeared to block Beltre's left hand on a head-first slide, and the Mariners also thought Beltre came off the bag while Seager was still tagging him.
"There's so many little scenarios like that where you don't necessarily even see it on the field that come up over the course of a season," Seager said. "They told us if there's a tag, keep it on."
Danny Farquhar (1-4) and four other Seattle relievers pitched 4 2-3 hitless innings. Tom Wilhelmsen struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 12th save, including Josh Hamilton as a pinch-hitter exactly a week after the Texas slugger had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
Yovani Gallardo (12-11) failed to get out of the sixth inning for the fifth consecutive start, allowing eight hits and three runs in five innings.
The Rangers, who scored 33 runs in the sweep of the Astros, were held to six hits. They lost their third straight to the Mariners, who shut them out in the last two games of a series in Seattle earlier this month.
Prince Fielder struck out with two runners on and one out in the first and again in the third. He walked with the bases loaded in the fifth to end a 22-inning scoreless streak for Texas against the Mariners.
HAMILTON'S RETURN
Banister said the Rangers knew Thursday that Hamilton would be available as a pinch-hitter. He had surgery to clean up the meniscus in the knee after dealing with soreness for several weeks. Before the game, Hamilton took batting practice on the field for the first time since surgery.
DOUBLE-PLAY FEST
The teams combined for six double plays -- four by Seattle and two by Texas. It's the third time the Rangers have induced four double plays in a game this season, but the first time the Mariners have hit into that many since June 5, 2013, when they had four against the Chicago White Sox.
UP NEXT
Mariners: LHP Vidal Nuno (1-2, 3.21 ERA) starts against the Rangers nine days after limiting them to one hit in seven innings and striking out a career-high 10 in a 6-0 win.
Rangers: LHP Cole Hamels (3-1, 4.04) is 3-0 in his past six starts for Texas, which has won all six of those games since losing his first two times out after the trade with Philadelphia.
