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Mariners-Rangers Preview

Jun 9, 2010 - 4:42 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Seattle (23-34) at Texas (30-27), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Vladimir Guerrero won't be getting as much playing time when interleague play resumes this weekend. Until then, the Texas Rangers certainly aren't in any hurry to put him on the bench.

Guerrero looks to run his hitting streak at home to 16 games as the Rangers face the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.

Texas (31-27) avoided a third straight loss Tuesday night, beating Seattle 7-1 in this series' second game. The Rangers lost four of their previous six at home, failing to take advantage of Guerrero's continued success there.

Guerrero homered Tuesday to extend his hitting streak at the Ballpark in Arlington to 15. The eight-time All-Star has five homers, five doubles and 13 RBIs during that stretch and is hitting .369 at home this season.

Guerrero, though, will not play on back-to-back days during a nine-game road stretch against NL teams starting Friday against Milwaukee.

Because there will be no designated hitter, Guerrero will have to play right field to be in the lineup.

"I will not play him (in the outfield) on consecutive days because I don't want to get him hurt," manager Ron Washington said.

The 35-year-old Guerrero has remained healthy in his first season with Texas partly because he has been used as a DH in 49 of the club's first 58 contests.

Guerrero is 4 for 7 against Ian Snell (0-4, 4.64 ERA), who will take the mound for the Mariners (23-35). The right-hander allowed four runs and walked four in 5 1-3 innings of a 7-1 loss to Los Angeles on Friday night.

Manager Don Wakamatsu would like Snell to work with better tempo and be more aggressive in attacking the strike zone. Snell, however, isn't thrilled with that assessment.

"He can say whatever he wants because he's the manager," Snell said. "I pretty much have nothing else to say about my tempo. I'm working on it, and I'm trying my best, and that's all I can do is give my best.

"I'm human and I'm not Superman."

Snell is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in four starts versus the Rangers and his shortest start of the year came at Texas on April 11, when he gave up five runs and eight hits in three innings of a 9-2 loss.

Texas will counter with C.J. Wilson (4-3, 3.62), who is 1-2 with an 8.57 ERA in his last four starts. The left-hander won his last outing, giving up five runs - three earned - in five innings of a 9-6 victory over Tampa Bay on Friday night.

Wilson has not received a decision in two career starts against the Mariners, posting a 5.00 ERA. He has faced Seattle 37 times as a reliever, going 5-2 with a 5.01 ERA.

The Mariners have averaged 2.4 runs in losing four of five. Their only home run during that stretch was Michael Saunders' three-run shot that helped them open this series with a 4-2 win Monday night.

That is one of Saunders' only two hits in his last 22 at-bats on the road.

Even steady veteran Ichiro Suzuki is in a rut, going 0 for 7 over his last two games. Suzuki is 0 for 15 in his last four contests versus Texas.