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Mariners fight but still get blanked by Rangers

May 9, 2008 - 6:56 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Richie Sexson and the Seattle Mariners showed a little fight Thursday, but it did not show up on the scoreboard as the club suffered a 5-0 loss to the Texas Rangers in the finale of a four-game series.

Ramon Vazquez had four hits and Ian Kinsler blasted a two-run homer for the Rangers, who have won three games in a row and seven of their last nine.

The contest was marred by a bench-clearing brawl in the fourth inning. While Texas starter Kason Gabbard's offering to Sexson was high, it did not appear as if he was throwing at the slugger.

"If you look at the replay, Gabbard was nowhere near Sexson's head," Texas manager Ron Washington. "I guess he was just a little frustrated and things got out of control. We don't throw at people's heads. Sexson overreacted. We got two hitters hit but that ball was nowhere near Sexson."

The 6-8 first baseman, however, felt differently. He charged the mound and threw his helmet at Gabbard before taking the pitcher to the ground as both the benches and bullpens quickly emptied to join in the scuffle.

"I understood the situation and there is a right and a wrong way to play the game," Sexson said. He hits me below the shoulders and I am fine with it. But when you get up near the face, that's when you start talking about careers. Nobody should deal with that. It's the wrong way to play baseball."

Mariners starter Felix Hernandez, who hit two Rangers with pitches earlier in the contest, became very animated during the incident and needed to be restrained by Seattle catcher Kenji Johjima and former teammate Eddie Guardado of the Rangers. Texas catcher Gerald Laird also needed to be held back by teammate Milton Bradley.

"I'm too old to be throwing punches at guys," Laird said. "Especially over there. They are a bunch of great guys. It was just the heat of the moment. It's baseball. It's part of the game. I'm just glad no one got hurt."

Sexson was the only player ejected as a result of the incident.

"I am sure it all (recent frustrations about lack of offense) came to a head right there," Sexson said. "It's no secret we haven't scored any runs for a while. We haven't been living up to our potential. This team offensively on paper is way better than this."

Gabbard (2-0), who yielded just two hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings, did not retire another batter. He walked Miguel Cairo and surrendered an infield single by Yuniesky Betancourt before leaving the game with bruised legs.

"He had just come off the DL because of his back and he was at the bottom of the pile and he started feeling it, so we couldn't leave him out there," Washington said of Gabbard's early departure. "To us, he just looked like he was laboring and I wasn't going to leave him out there and let him hurt himself."

The Rangers' bullpen combined to pitch 5 1/3 scoreless frames with five strikeouts. The Mariners, who managed just four hits overall, have been held scoreless for 22 consecutive innings.

"Our pitching staff. It's all them," Washington said. "We went through a rough stretch last month but these guys have picked it up and we got three great starts. Kason was throwing the ball great until he came out. And our bullpen has been great."

Texas opened an early 2-0 lead as Vazquez scored on David Murphy's sacrifice fly and Brandon Boggs added an RBI single in the first. Kinsler blasted a two-run shot to left-center field off Hernandez (2-3) in the second to double the advantage.

Vazquez capped the scoring with an RBI single in the sixth.

Hernandez lasted five innings, surrendering four runs and six hits with three walks and five strikeouts.