ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas rookie Edinson Volquez showed his veteran counterpart that he knows a few things about pitching himself.
The 23-year-old Volquez pitched seven shutout innings to earn his first career win, helping the Texas Rangers beat 43-year-old Jamie Moyer and the Seattle Mariners 5-4 Saturday night.
Gary Matthews Jr. and Gerald Laird homered as the Rangers won their fourth straight game.
Volquez, who was making his fifth career start, went 0-4 last year with the Rangers and was making his second start of the season. He came into the game with a career 12.23 ERA.
“There’s no substitute for experience,” Texas manager Buck Showalter said. “You have to experience the ups and downs and keep the downs to a minimum. It’s starting to come together for him.”
Volquez (1-1) allowed four hits and struck out three. He capped his 104-pitch outing by striking out Adam Jones and Ichiro Suzuki to end the seventh inning before Joaquin Benoit relieved him to start the eighth.
Volquez showed some veteran composure when he escaped bases-loaded jams in the second and fourth. He ended the threat each time by retiring Jones, the No. 9 hitter.
Jones stuck out in the second and grounded out in the fourth on fastballs.
“When I get in a situation I think ‘You can do it. Make your best pitch,” Volquez said. “The fastball away is my best pitch.”
Moyer (6-11) allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings. He is 1-5 over his last eight starts with a 6.33 ERA.
“You don’t expect low scoring games here,” Moyer said. “If you give up three, four or five runs, you’re going to have a chance to win.”
Volquez left with a 5-0 lead and Seattle rallied against the Rangers’ bullpen.
Kenji Johjima, who was 3-for-4, hit an RBI single off Benoit in the eighth and Yuniesky Betancourt followed with a two-run single to cut it to 5-3.
Rick Bauer relieved Benoit and promptly gave up an RBI double to Willie Bloomquist. But Bauer struck out pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs on three pitches to end the inning.
Akinori Otsuka worked the ninth for his 23rd save in 26 chances.
“We squared up a lot of baseballs and they just made the plays,” Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said. “Our guys battled all night, it just didn’t happen.”
Matthews, who also homered Friday night, hit his 14th homer leading off the fifth against Moyer. Mark DeRosa added a run-scoring single in the fifth to give him 14 RBIs in the last five games.
The Rangers, who have scored 41 runs in their last four contests, have outscored the Mariners 27-13 in winning the first three games of the four-game series.
After slumping to a 5-7 record in the first 12 games after acquiring slugger Carlos Lee, Laird said the Rangers are hitting their stride.
“This is what we’re supposed to be doing,” Laird said. “This is what we made all those moves for.”
Texas took a 1-0 lead in the first when Matthews doubled and scored on Michael Young’s single. Nelson Cruz added a sacrifice fly in the second.
After the Rangers scored two in the fifth, Laird added a solo shot off Moyer in the sixth. It was his sixth of the season.
Moyer has given up 25 home runs this season.
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