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Young lifts Rangers past Mariners

Jul 31, 2008 - 4:43 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Michael Young recorded a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to lift the Texas Rangers to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in the third game of a four-game set on Wednesday night.

Seattle reliever Arthur Rhodes walked the bases loaded in the frame and Young, who was out of the starting lineup because of a fractured right ring finger, lofted a fly ball to center field, scoring David Murphy with the go-ahead run. It was Young's first pinch hitting appearance since August 2002.

"I'd never pinch hit in that sort of a situation before, I was really jacked up," Young said. "I was getting treatment on my finger throughout the game and didn't even put my uniform on until the seventh inning. Rhodes has been tough on me in my career, but I knew I had to get something that I could hit in the air."

Rhodes (2-1) retired Frank Catalanotto to lead off the inning, but walked Murphy and All-Star Josh Hamilton to bring Marlon Byrd to the plate. A 3-2 pitch to Byrd was called a ball by home plate umpire Paul Nauert, which loaded the bases. After Murphy crossed the plate to give Texas a 4-3 advantage, Rhodes exchanged words with Nauert and was ejected from the game.

"You've got to make the calls out there," Rhodes said of the three consecutive 3-2 walks. "I'm out there making good pitches and the ball is going over the plate. You should call it. But I have no comment over that."

The Mariners jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning off Texas starter Vicente Padilla. The righthander retired the first two batters he faced in the inning, but four consecutive hits plated two runs for Seattle.

Kenji Johjima started the rally with a double, and scored on a bloop single by Willie Bloomquist. Ichiro Suzuki followed with a single and Bloomquist scored after Jeremy Reed grounded a single through the left side of the infield.

Hamilton and Brandon Boggs hit home runs for the Rangers in the bottom half of the inning off Mariners starter Miguel Batista to tie the game. Hamilton's blast reached the upper deck in right field and Boggs hit the 11th pitch of his at-bat into the seats in right.

The righthander went six innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks, striking out three.

"Batista knew he had to try to pitch Boggs inside to get him out," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "They dueled and finally he left one over the plate and Boggs got all of it."

The Mariners regained the lead in the fifth when Jose Lopez drove in Reed with an RBI single off of Padilla to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.

In the bottom of the inning, Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled to lead off before Ramon Vazquez struck out. All-Star Ian Kinsler roped a double down the left field line, but Raul Ibanez threw a strike to Bloomquist in short left field, who fired home to Johjima in time to cut down the potential tying run.

Texas tied the game in the sixth when, with runners on the corners and two out, Johjima misfired a throw in centerfield as Boggs attempted to steal second, plating Murphy from third and tying the game at 3-3.

Seattle loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs, but Ibanez flew out to right and Murphy threw out Bloomquist tagging from third base.

"Ibanez hit a good fly to throw on. I knew the throw was on-line but I wasn't sure if it would get there in time," Murphy said.

Padilla, who allowed three runs on 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts over seven innings, struck out Adrian Beltre looking to end the frame.

"Padilla was unbelievable tonight," Saltalamacchia said. "Especially in the seventh with no outs and the bases loaded. His fastball was good and he was able to keep them off balance with it and he threw a lot of splitters and had them swinging through them."

Eddie Guardado (2-2) earned the win in relief by pitching a scoreless eighth and C.J. Wilson registered his 24th save.