ARLINGTON, Texas — On a sweltering, ruin-your-shirt night featuring the heat of August in Texas, neither the Mariners or Rangers — two teams playing out the string — wanted to play into extra innings. Besides the heat, Seattle’s bullpen was torched from the three-game series with the Yankees and the Rangers didn’t arrive back from their road trip until 5 a.m. Thursday morning.
Nine would be just fine.
And it was the Mariners that had the deft execution in the ninth inning, manufacturing the go-ahead run and adding an insurance run for an eventual 5-3 victory over Texas.