Rangers edged by Mariners on 10th-inning homer

ARLINGTON -- Robbie Ross has been solid for the Rangers out of the bullpen this season, but it didn't show Wednesday in the 10th inning as the Rangers fell to the Mariners, 4-2, at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Ross allowed a two-run shot to Kyle Seager with two outs to break a 2-2 tie. Ross walked Michael Saunders up 0-2 in the count with two outs before he allowed the home run.

"Seager hit a pitch that I thought was a good pitch in my mind," Ross said. "I went back and looked at it, and he was already ready for it. When a guy sees it out of your hand and hits it, most of the time he's right on it. And he was right on it."

Ross moves to 4-2 this season after allowing two runs on two hits in an inning. Ross has dropped two of his last four decisions after starting his career 8-0. He has now allowed five runs in his last six outings with a 7.94 ERA.

"I'd faced him a few times," Seager said of Ross. "He threw Saunders a couple sliders that he was able to take and for the most part his ball has little natural cut it seems. I've faced him a few times and he's pretty tough."

The Rangers are now a Major League-worst 1-6 in extra-inning games. They've been outscored 12-3 in those seven games. Charlie Furbush received the win pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings beginning in the eighth inning. Tom Wilhelmsen recorded his 17th save this season.

The Mariners struck first off Derek Holland in the opening at-bat. Holland allowed a home run to Jason Bay to start the game, but he found a way to work around situations for most of his start. Holland allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings. He picked up 10 strikeouts and walked two on 104 pitches in the no-decision.

The Rangers picked up two runs in the fifth off Felix Hernandez to take a 2-1 lead. David Murphy hit a solo shot into the Rangers' bullpen on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. Ian Kinsler went deep to left later in the inning. It snapped a streak of four straight games without a Texas home run, which was the longest stretch in two years.

"Those two homers -- I fell behind against Murphy and he hit it pretty good," Hernandez said. "Kinsler put up a great at-bat and I missed my pitch and he hit it out of the ballpark. I used everything. He just fouled them off. He was a tough at-bat."

The Mariners went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position against Holland. The only opportunity they cashed in occurred in the sixth, as Holland couldn't get outs ahead in the count. He walked Justin Smoak up 0-2, which loaded the bases. Mike Zunino hit a hard ground ball that Adrian Beltre couldn't handle with two outs.

"I thought the sixth inning was the turning point," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We needed Derek to get the shutdown. He put himself in some trouble, but he worked out of it. He just couldn't execute a pitch against Zunino."

The Rangers grabbed seven hits off Hernandez, but they couldn't manufacture any more runs. Beltre started the sixth with a ground-rule double to right-center field, but he was left stranded at second. The Rangers were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. Hernandez allowed two runs in seven innings in the no-decision. He struck out seven and walked two on 107 pitches.

"I don't know if it was Felix or it was us," Washington said. "In that situation, you want to get a ball to pull. ... We understood what the situation was, we just didn't execute.

"What you can do when you face good pitching is take advantage of the opportunities you have. We had it, but we just didn't take advantage of it."

The Mariners nearly took the lead in the eighth off Tanner Scheppers. Smoak's single put runners at the corners with one out, but Scheppers forced Dustin Ackley to ground into a double play. The Rangers benefited from a close play at first for the third out, which would have plated a run.

The Rangers have now dropped three of their last four games after an 8-1 stretch. They've scored two runs or fewer in 17 of their 19 home losses.