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Rangers outduel Mariners for 11th straight win

Jul 18, 2011 - 1:00 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Mitch Moreland hit a three-run home run and Matt Harrison pitched into the eighth inning as the Texas Rangers won their 11th straight game with a 3-1 win over the punchless Seattle Mariners.

While the Rangers have been fantastic of late, the Mariners have not. The team is mired in a nine-game losing streak and has scored just 11 runs during that time as the team has been shut out three times during the slump.

"It's tough to watch, it's tough to live through, but you have to do that," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. "There are no excuses, there are no shortcuts, you've got to keep fighting to get a little bit better, each position player to a man, to head in the right direction."

Harrison (8-7) won his second straight start as he was charged with just one run on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts while Mike Napoli went 2- for-3 with a run scored for the Rangers, who last won 11 straight from June 12-24, 2010 and are three wins shy of tying the team record set from May 12-27, 1991.

Blake Beavan (1-1) gave up three runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings to take the loss for Seattle, which has not won since an extra-inning victory over Oakland on July 5. Jack Wilson drove in the lone run.

The second inning saw Texas take the lead as Daniel Murphy led off with a single, Napoli followed with a walk and Moreland crushed a pitch over the right field wall for a 3-0 advantage.

"It was good, I've been working on some stuff," said Moreland. "It was a sign of progress, but still not where I want to be, the consistency's not there, but I was happy to be able to do it."

Seattle got consecutive one-out singles in the fifth to threaten, but Josh Bard flied out and Chone Figgins grounded out to end the frame.

A scary moment occurred in the seventh when Ian Kinsler was hit on the ear flap by a pitch from Beavan, but he got up quickly and stayed in the game.

The eighth saw Seattle get on the board when Bard led off with a double, moved to third on a Figgins groundout and came home courtesy of a Wilson single.

That was it, though, as Harrison struck out Ichiro Suzuki and Mark Lowe got Franklin Gutierrez to groundout and end the inning.

Neftali Feliz threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save of the season.

Game Notes

Mariners hitters are 0-for-33 with two walks and 13 strikeouts against Feliz during his career...Kinsler went 0-for-4 in the game and had his 12-game hitting streak snapped...The Mariners have no home runs in their past nine games, the longest drought for the team since a 15-game stretch in 1983...Texas has won eight of the 10 games against the Mariners this season...Seattle had not dropped nine straight since 2008.