Marcus Semien hit a game-winning single into the left field corner, scoring Leody Taveras and helping the Texas Rangers come back from a five-run deficit to win 6-5 on Sunday. This victory kept the Seattle Mariners, who are chasing a playoff spot, from making progress in the AL wild card race.
The Mariners (80-76) fell two games behind in a close four-team wild card race, which includes three teams from the AL Central. Likely, only two of these teams will make the playoffs.
Detroit and Kansas City are both 82-74, tied for the last two playoff spots and four games behind wild card-leading Baltimore. Each team has six games left to play.
Minnesota (81-75) started the day as the third wild card team but is now one game behind its division rivals. The Twins were swept in a doubleheader against Boston, and Seattle missed the chance to catch up after blowing a 5-0 lead in Texas.
“These guys have faced that challenge a lot during the last couple of weeks,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “We talked about it a lot (and) how they’ve been able to be resilient, to bounce back and be ready to play the next day. We’re going to have to do it again.”
The Mariners, five games behind the Astros in the AL West, begin a three-game series in Houston on Monday.
Texas, last year’s World Series champion, was eliminated from playoff contention on Friday. The Rangers (74-82) won their home finale to avoid being swept by the Mariners.
“It hasn’t been the year we wanted,” Semien said. “Glad we ended it like that. We just want to finish strong.”
Taveras tied the game at 5 with a solo home run in the seventh inning and finished with three hits, all coming from the sixth inning onward.
