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ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers aren't unbeatable at home, but it sure seems that way recently. Texas walloped Seattle 10-4 on Saturday night to wrap up their ninth straight series at Globe Life Park. That matches a franchise record for consecutive series won for the Rangers.
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Texas, which has won six of seven games and has the best record in the American League, pounded out 14 hits Saturday and scored runs in four of the first five innings to pull away from Seattle.
The Rangers set the tone with three runs in the first off Seattle starter Nathan Karns (4-2) and kept on pounding.
"It's always nice for our guys to give our pitcher, the starter, a lead," said Texas manager Jeff Banister. "If we can continue to build on that lead, it allows them to settle in, try to throw more strikes, early-count outs. It's crucial, simple baseball when you can give you pitcher room to work with, they can attack the zone."
That's exactly what Texas left-hander Martin Perez (4-4) did. While Perez wasn't dominant, as Seattle scored single runs off him in the second, third and fourth innings, he didn't have to be.
Every time the Mariners scored, Texas had the answer. The Rangers were up 5-3 before breaking the game open with four runs in the fifth inning.
Mitch Moreland's RBI single starting the scoring in the fifth, and then Elvis Andrus followed with a three-run homer to left to highlight a night in which he went 2-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and three runs scored.
"It was a collective team effort," Andrus said. "I think Martin did a terrific job. He's been pitching really well the last four or five starts. It was a team effort. I just did my job, go out there and be aggressive. It was a team effort and hopefully we can sweep tomorrow."
Perez ended up notching a quality start, pitching six innings while giving up nine hits and three runs.
Karns, who went to high school in Arlington, didn't fare nearly as well as he was charged with seven runs on eight hits in his four innings. He struck out five but also walked five.
While Perez was able to keep damage to a minimum, Karns never found a rhythm.
"It's just one of those things it's kind of tough to get through, but I've got to get through that," he said. "And then I can't let it spill over to the other innings, have clean innings after that. But the second, third innings, for some reason I just lost my fastball command."
The Mariners have allowed 44 runs in the last four games and are 1-3 in that stretch.
"It makes it tough on the offense as good as our offense has been," Seattle manager Scott Servais said of his team's pitching. "It does suck a little life out of you. It takes so much pressure off the other pitcher when he's got three, four, five runs to work with early. He can go to all of his pitches and not be on edge, and we like the guy to be on edge a little bit when we're at the plate."
Texas center fielder Ian Desmond, who had four hits Friday, led the barrage with three hits. Andrus, Jurickson Profar, Rougned Odor and Ryan Rua each had two-hit games. Nomar Mazara capped the scoring for Texas with his 10th homer of the season in the eighth inning.
The Mariners cut the lead to two in the second on a sacrifice fly from Stefen Romero and again in the third on a solo homer from Nelson Cruz. Seattle trailed 5-3 after Shawn O'Malley's RIB single in the fifth, but the pitching couldn't slow down the Texas hitters.
Cruz added a run-scoring groundout in the seventh and finished with two RBI. Catcher Chris Iannetta had three of Seattle's 11 hits.
NOTES: Texas 2B Rougned Odor was reinstated from the suspended list after missing seven games for his involvement in a brawl with the Toronto Blue Jays on May 15. ... Texas recalled RHP Tom Wilhelmsen from Triple-A Round Rock and optioned INF Hanser Alberto to Round Rock. ... Seattle called up RHP Edwin Diaz from Double-A Jackson and sent RHP Cody Martin to Triple-A Tacoma to make room for him. Diaz didn't allow a run in his last 10 outings in Jackson and has a 2.21 ERA on the season. ... Texas RHP Nick Tepesch, who has spent all season at Round Rock, requested and was granted his unconditional release. Tepesch was 9-17 over parts of two seasons with the Rangers. ... Texas DH Prince Fielder, who came into Saturday's game in a 0-for-12 rut, was out of the starting lineup. Fielder is batting .193 over the last 15 games and .187 on the season. ... Seattle SS Ketel Marte, who has been on the disabled list since May 22 with a sprained left thumb, is expected to rejoin the Mariners on Monday after completing his rehab assignment Saturday.
