ARLINGTON -- A short start for Erasmo Ramirez turned into a rough night for the Mariners as Texas rolled to an 8-3, rain-shortened victory in Friday's series opener at Globe Life Park.
The game was called after lightning and a heavy downpour opened up with two out in the top of the seventh inning. It was the first weather-shortened game in the history of the park, which opened in 1994 and will be replaced in 2020 by a retractable-roof stadium currently being built next door.
Ramirez lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his briefest outing of the season, allowing six runs on four hits and a pair of walks as the Mariners dropped to 5-3 on their road trip with the lopsided loss.
Robinson Cano continued his recent hot streak with a 2-for-3 night as he's 8-for-11 in the past three games to hike his average to .295. Dee Gordon also went 2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored and Mike Zunino was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, but the Mariners couldn't recover from a 7-0 deficit.

"We did hit some balls OK, but we dug ourselves a big hole and that's tough to come out of," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "It was not our night."
After winning their season series over the American League West-leading Astros, the Mariners are now 6-7 against the last-place Rangers. The two teams still play six times in the remaining nine games.
At 84-69, the Mariners' Wild Card elimination number -- any combination of Oakland wins or Seattle losses -- is down to 1, after the A's beat the Twins Friday night.
Ramirez gave up a three-run homer to Adrian Beltre in the first to put the Mariners in a quick hole. Beltre's opposite-field shot was his seventh in the past 14 games and 476th of his career, moving him past Stan Musial and WIllie Stargell into 30th on MLB's all-time list. Beltre's two-run single in the third ended Ramirez's night.

"What can I say? Just back-to-back road starts where I was fighting a little bit with my pitches," Ramirez said. "Beltre got good contact on a good pitch, but he's a good hitter. There's nothing I can say about it. It was his night."
After allowing just three home runs in his first six starts after coming off the disabled list in mid-August, Ramirez has surrendered four long balls in 6 2/3 innings in his last two outings. He's now 2-2 with a 5.50 ERA in eight starts since rejoining the rotation.
"He's just not very crisp," Servais said. "He's really struggling to get a feel for his secondary pitch. It's a lot of fastball cutters and he's missing in the middle of the plate. The home run, Beltre hit it to the right spot of the park, but he still didn't get the ball where he wanted. … He just hasn't been sharp in locating his stuff."

SOUND SMART
Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a seventh-inning double. He's batted .400 (16-for-40) with six extra-base hits and nine runs in that span. Haniger also drove in a run with a fifth-inning groundout to regain the team lead from Nelson Cruz in RBIs with 91.

HE SAID IT
"We'll see. We have guys coming back into the rotation. We're trying to get the Oakland series set and we'll see how these guys throw in this series and then see how it all lines up for that last series against Texas." -- Servais, on whether Ramirez will get one more start next week during the final homestand
UP NEXT
Marco Gonzales (12-9, 4.28 ERA) gets the start in Saturday's 5:05 p.m. PT game against Rangers lefty Mike Minor (12-7, 4.14) at Globe Life Park. Gonzales has pitched five innings in each of his two starts since coming off DL as the Mariners are being cautious with his workload. After a strong first half, the 26-year-old is 0-4 with an 8.10 ERA in six starts since Aug. 3.