Mariners swept in Texas as bats stay silent

Published 10:37 am Thursday, April 9, 2026

The Texas Rangers used solid pitching and timely hitting to finish off a sweep of the Seattle Mariners 3-0 on Wednesday at Globe Life Field.

The last time the Rangers swept the Mariners was in 2023.

Last season Bryan Woo dominated the Rangers in three starts, going 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA with 24 strikeouts.

Woo had the Rangers following the same script Wednesday, allowing only two hits through his first four innings of work, but the team got after the pitcher in the fifth. The Rangers loaded the bases for Brandon Nimmo, who hit a weak grounder to first baseman Connor Joe. Joe, who had just been called up to the majors, fielded the ball but made an errant throw home, which allowed two runs to score before a Corey Seager sacrifice fly plated the inning’s third run.

Seager talked about what changed for the team in the fifth inning.

“Just better at-bats, stack them together, making them work a little more, just one of those innings that kind of some stuff went our way, and capitalized on them,” said Seager.

MacKenzie Gore tosses a gem

MacKenzie Gore has been as good as advertised this season — and perhaps even better. On Wednesday, Gore didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, a single to former Rangers catcher Mitch Garver.

The Mariners’ best chance against Gore came in the first inning after back-to-back walks.

However, Gore struck out the next two batters; he caught outfielder Randy Arozarena looking on an 82-mph curveball down in the zone and then punched a 97-mph four-seam fastball past Brendan Donovan to get out of the inning.

Gore talked about an early struggle with ball placement before settling in.

“I think we battled command, probably, you could say, all day, but especially early, but I didn’t think misses were awful, and we just kind of made pitches throughout the day when we needed to,” Gore said. “There were some deeper counts that we probably could have ended a little earlier, but I thought our stuff was really good.”

Manager Skip Schumaker talked about his performance after the game.

“Stuff is nasty. I mean, that’s consistent. I mean, he’s 97 with three other pitches that he can get guys out with. Maybe that first inning was a little longer. That kind of cost him maybe another inning,” said Schumaker. “But after the first inning he really settled in and what, I don’t know, nine or 10 strikeouts and some weak contact, and he was really, really effective today.”

Gore retired the next nine batters in a row before Garver’s single. He finished the game giving up no runs and one hit in five innings with nine strikeouts.

Gore’s pitching matched that of his teammates as the Rangers allowed just three runs in three games.

Bullpen closes it out

The Rangers’ starting pitching was elite throughout the series against Seattle as was their bullpen, which gave up no runs off four hits in 11 innings of work, with two saves by Jakob Junis and a third by Cole Winn, the first of his career, to secure the sweep.

Schumaker praised his bullpen’s performance, saying the relievers did whatever was needed during this series.

“Our bullpen was lights out the last couple of nights. It didn’t matter who was in what lane, what inning, whatever we gave them. They were incredible. Dirty inning, clean inning, whatever it was. I mean, it was a really impressive bullpen series as well, even, I mean, really, the homestand was, overall, really, really good,” said Schumaker.

Luis Curvelo made his season debut on Wednesday after being called up to replace Carter Baumler, who was put on the 15-day injured list with a right intercostal strain, and threw a scoreless seventh and eighth inning.