ARLINGTON -- Kyle Higashioka said it best on Tuesday night: “It gets kinda tiring losing to the same team.”
Rangers fans know that all too well. And the players feel it just the same about the Mariners.
A week of pitching duels concluded on Wednesday afternoon, when the newest Rangers pitcher MacKenzie Gore went head-to-head against Mariners starter Bryan Woo to finish off the three-game set at Globe Life Field.
Gore allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings, while the Rangers offense ignited a fifth-inning rally to propel Texas to a 3-0 win and a series sweep over Seattle.
The victory marked the Rangers’ first sweep over the Mariners since Sept. 22-24, 2023. Texas has been 0-9-0 in series play against Seattle since that sweep, including 3-10 in 2024 and 3-10 again in 2025.
“It’s hugely important,” Higashioka said Tuesday. “Them and the Astros are definitely our biggest rivals. Any time we can beat these guys, it feels good, because they played us really tough, especially the last couple years."
The Rangers and Mariners each had two of the best rotations in baseball last season, and it stands to reason that they both will continue to thrive in 2026. In a series where Texas only scored eight runs against Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryan Woo, their own rotation trio of Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Gore limited Seattle to three runs in the sweep.
Having a rotation that can go start-for-start with some of the best pays dividends.
And Gore’s outing on Wednesday was the best of all of them.
“He's a bonafide ace on most staffs,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “He's a number one. We just have two other number ones [deGrom and Eovaldi]. [The Mariners] have a lot of number ones on the other side. It's nice to match up against a rotation like we just faced.”
It was Gore’s sixth career start of five or more innings and one or zero hits allowed (July 25, 2025, at MIN). His 25 strikeouts through his first three starts as a Ranger are the fourth-most in club history in such a span, trailing only deGrom (27 in 2023), Max Scherzer (26 in 2023) and Nolan Ryan (26 in 1989).
“It’s a pretty easy rotation to fit into,” Gore said. “You just go out there and do your job. You're around a lot of really good players, and you really just try to keep up with them. …When you're around good players, they push you. It's been fun to watch them, and it’s easy to learn how to attack hitters and do what they do.”
On Seattle being a thorn in the Rangers’ side over the last few years, Eovaldi said that doesn’t matter all that much for 2026. It’s a new year and the Rangers have swiftly turned the page.
“We're a very different team than we've been in years past,” Eovaldi said after Tuesday's win. “A lot of people don't realize it. We have had our struggles against those guys, and we have had them earlier on this year. There are a lot more games. But for us to be able to take these is huge, especially with how little we play each other and the tiebreakers and things like that. It's huge to make sure that we're winning these games against our division teams.”
It’s a long season. Anybody in baseball will tell you that in April, whether things are going good or bad.
But a sweep against a divisional rival can go a long way in September. And a sweep that followed up getting swept the series before does wonders for the vibes as well. Schumacher said it shows just what type of clubhouse they have that they were able to easily flush the Cincinnati series and come back to a defining sweep of the Mariners.
It’s a long season. But this one matters right now.
“It’s veteran guys that are worried about winning the day and not worried about what happened -- win or loss -- the day before,” Schumaker said. “They're just coming in, trying to execute and trusting their process. Over the course of 162, we're going to be okay. Seattle is a really tough team in all facets of the game. They're really well coached and managed. They pitch as good as anybody. They have a dangerous lineup. I’ll definitely take this.”