Texas Rangers Miss Division Title in 1-0 Defeat to Seattle Mariners, Paving Way for Houston’s AL West Triumph

34

In a stellar performance, George Kirby yielded only three hits across six innings as the Seattle Mariners secured a 1-0 victory against the Texas Rangers on Sunday. This outcome served to usher the Houston Astros to the American League West championship.

Coming off securing their ninth playoff slot in the history of the franchise just a day earlier, the Rangers only needed to defeat the Mariners to clinch the AL West title. However, their loss enabled Houston to equalize on the last day of the season, capturing the division due to their tiebreaker advantage over the Rangers.

Houston routed the Arizona Diamondbacks with an 8-1 win, sending Texas to face Tampa Bay as a wild-card entrant in the inaugural round of the postseason.

Kirby, who ended the regular season with 12 consecutive scoreless innings against both Texas and Houston, proved insurmountable for the Rangers’ lineup. Evan Carter’s double in the third inning marked Texas’ first hit; however, he was the lone Ranger to advance to second base. Both Adolis García and Jonah Heim managed to single, but that was the extent of Texas’ offensive capabilities.

With a season record of 13-10, Kirby fanned seven batters and required a mere 75 pitches to complete his six-inning stint. Relief pitchers Prelander Berroa and Trent Thornton covered the seventh and eighth innings, while Isaiah Campbell secured his inaugural major league save in the ninth. Seattle completed the game in a swift 2 hours and 1 minute, registering their MLB-leading 18th shutout of the season.

Dane Dunning (12-7), the starting pitcher for Texas, operated on just three days of rest, lasting 3 2/3 innings. He encountered difficulties in the fourth inning, allowing consecutive singles by Eugenio Suárez and Jarred Kelenic, followed by a walk to Ty France, thereby loading the bases. Suárez eventually scored the game’s lone run on Dominic Canzone’s infield ground out, narrowly avoiding a tag by Heim at the home plate.

New Elements in the Pitch Arsenal

In spring training, Kirby had mentioned incorporating a knuckleball into his pitch repertoire but did not actually deploy it until his first pitch to Corey Seager in the fourth inning. The 73 mph pitch caught Seager swinging and missing.

Durability Through All 162 Games

Eugenio Suárez, the Mariners’ third baseman, and Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ shortstop, completed the regular season by participating in all 162 games. Suárez is the fifth Mariner to achieve this, and the first since Ichiro Suzuki in 2010. Semien becomes the 11th Texas player to accomplish the feat, and the second to start every regular-season game in the field, joining Ruben Sierra in 1989.

Batting Championship Outcome

Corey Seager missed out on the AL batting title on the last day, yielding it to Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz. Seager went 0 for 4, ending the season with a .327 average. He had started the day narrowly leading Díaz .3298 to .3295.

Attendance Surge

Seattle concluded the regular season with an unofficial home attendance tally of 2,690,931, marking a considerable increase from the previous season’s 2,287,267. It is their highest attendance figure since registering 2,725,459 in 2005.

What Lies Ahead

The Rangers will now await the outcome of their postseason placement, while the Mariners look forward to their spring training opener on February 24 against the Chicago White Sox.

---

Source: AP MLB: https://bigbignews.net/mlb

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about AL West title

More about AL West title

• MLB Official Site
• ESPN MLB Coverage
• AL West Standings
• Houston Astros News
• Texas Rangers News
• Seattle Mariners News
• Tampa Bay Rays News
• 2023 MLB Postseason Schedule
• Pitching Statistics
• Batting Statistics