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Rangers blank Mariners again

Jul 16, 2011 - 5:46 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Colby Lewis threw a four-hitter over 8 2/3 innings to help the Texas Rangers take a 4-0 win over the hapless Seattle Mariners.

It was the second game in a row that the Rangers shut out the Mariners as Derek Holland held Seattle to five hits in a 5-0 win on Thursday to open the four-game series.

In fact, the Rangers have three straight shutouts and four in their last six games over the course of a season-high nine-game winning streak.

The Mariners, meanwhile have been held to zero runs over their past 26 innings and have dropped seven straight, scoring just nine runs while being blanked three times during the slide.

Lewis (9-7) walked two while striking out eight to win his fourth straight decision. Ian Kinsler went 2-for-4 and scored twice in the win.

"Once again Colby went out there and executed his pitches throughout the whole game," said Texas manager Ron Washington. "He just ran out of gas there a little bit in the ninth, but he made pitches when he had to and did an excellent job."

Doug Fister (3-11) dropped his sixth straight decision as he gave up four runs on six hits with two walks over 7 2/3 innings. He has not won over his past eight starts after beating Baltimore on May 30.

"It's not like we're going out there playing bad baseball, we're just not doing anything offensively," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. "It's time and time again, it's frustrating, it's upsetting, I know it is for them too, but, ultimately, the guys with the bats in the hands, they're the ones that have to control it."

The Rangers got the only run they needed in the first when Kinsler led off with a double, moved to third on an Elvis Andrus groundout and came home when Josh Hamilton followed with a sacrifice fly.

Texas made it a 2-0 game in the second another sacrifice fly, this one from Endy Chavez that plated Nelson Cruz, who led off with a single and moved to third on a Yorvit Torrealba double.

The eighth inning saw the Rangers take a 4-0 lead on an Adrian Beltre sacrifice fly and an RBI single off the bat of Michael Young.

Lewis faced a challenge in the fifth as Franklin Gutierrez led off the inning with a ground-rule double, but Kyle Seager and Carlos Peguero followed with strikeouts and Ichiro Suzuki groundout to end the frame.

Lewis then set Seattle down in order over the next three innings and came on for the ninth to try and close the game, but was pulled with two outs and two men on as Dustin Ackley and Adam Kennedy hit singles in the inning.

Neftali Feliz, though, grabbed his 19th save of the season and nailed down the shutout by getting Jack Cust to groundout.

Game Notes

Texas has won six of the eight games against Seattle this season...Lewis is 5-4 over 16 games (12 starts) against the Mariners in his career...Fister fell to 1-3 in five starts against the Rangers...C.J. Wilson pitches for Texas on Saturday while Felix Hernandez takes the mound for Seattle...Seattle announced during the game that closer David Aardsma will undergo Tommy John surgery next week.