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Rangers-Mariners Preview

Sep 19, 2010 - 5:04 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Texas (82-64) at Seattle (56-91), 4:10 p.m. EDT

The Texas Rangers keep inching toward their first AL West title since 1999. Pitching on seven days' rest, Tommy Hunter looks to move the Rangers even closer.

Hunter gets the ball Sunday at Safeco Field, where the division-leading Rangers try to win their second straight over the Seattle Mariners.

After last-place Seattle (56-92) snapped its seven-game winning streak Friday, Texas (83-64) lowered its magic number to six Saturday as Cliff Lee threw eight innings in a 6-1 victory over his former teammates. The Rangers lead the West by 10 games over Oakland with 15 to play.

"To have Cliff pitch the way he did (Saturday), that's huge," Texas outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. "At the end of the day, he's that guy that's going to go toe to toe with a couple of the other No. 1's when we continue to get closer to clinching the playoffs. When we get to October that's what we need is the type of performance he had (Saturday)."

With Lee moving up a spot in the rotation to be in line to start the playoff opener, Hunter (12-3, 3.97 ERA) will take the ball on three extra days of rest. After surrendering three homers and seven runs in his previous outing - a 7-2 loss at Toronto on Sept. 6 - the right-hander struck out a career-high eight and yielded two runs in five innings of a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees on Sept. 11.

Hunter, who is 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in two starts against the Mariners this season, will try to once again take advantage of a Seattle offense that ranks last in the majors in home runs (92), batting average (.234) and runs per game (3.2).

Doug Fister (5-12, 3.95), who will start the series finale for the Mariners, doesn't need to be reminded of his team's offensive struggles. The right-hander receives among the lowest run support averages in the AL at 4.13.

Despite giving up five runs and six hits over 7 1-3 innings of Monday's 5-1 loss to Boston, Fister retired 12 straight at one point.

"I thought he pitched well," interim manager Daren Brown told the Mariners' official web site. "(He made) just a couple of mistakes."

Fister, 0-1 with a 4.97 ERA in two starts against Texas this season, could be in for a rough outing if he makes mistakes against the Rangers, who are batting .296 and averaging 6.4 runs while winning eight of nine.

Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, 3 for 5 against Fister, is batting .405 (17 for 42) with four homers and six RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak.

Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 3,500th professional hit Saturday - 1,278 came in Japan - and is seven shy of becoming the first player in AL history with 10 seasons of at least 200 hits. Suzuki is 8 for 20 against Hunter.

Texas has won 11 of 15 in the season series with Seattle.