SAN DIEGO — Now that their four-game, home-and-home, interleague series with the “natural rival” San Diego Padres is behind them, the Seattle Mariners get down to serious business in the American League West.
Fresh off the greatest comeback win in Mariners history — a 16-13 victory over the Padres on Thursday at Petco Park after trailing by 10 — Seattle will play four games against the Rangers in Texas this weekend. The Mariners will play host to the Rangers for four games at Safeco Field the following weekend.
The teams enter the two series tied at 31-22, with the Houston Astros a distant third in the division. The Rangers and Mariners are 3-3 against each another thus far, with each team winning two of three on the rival’s home field.
What the Mariners have going for them is the momentum of the Thursday night win — although they had to fly overnight to Texas while the Rangers had Thursday off.
“This game gave us a pretty good boost,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said Thursday night after his club rallied from a 12-2 deficit after five innings with five runs in the sixth and nine in the seventh.
“Everybody on the bench did not stop, just screaming, yelling, getting the energy going, and the guys fed off it. I can’t say enough about our guys and their belief in each other. That’s kind of what it is about.”