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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas. End of the seventh inning, the score shows 4-1 for the Rangers and Jacob deGrom, pulled an inning earlier after five solid strikeouts, watches his team manage the lead from the bench. And then everything changes. Dominic Canzone sends a three-run hit into the second deck of right field. On the next pitch, Randy Arozarena launches a 122-meter projectile into the bullpen. Back-to-back. Seattle takes the lead 5-4 and won't let go. Final score: 6-4.
Canzone, the consistency that wakes up a sleeping offense
Dominic Canzone is neither the biggest name on Seattle's roster nor the face you see on posters.
Dominic Canzone is neither the biggest name on Seattle's roster nor the face you see on posters. But for several weeks, he has been the most reliable hitter in a lineup that was running on empty. With this 15th home run of the season, the 28-year-old outfielder confirms a valuable consistency: he hits for power without straying from the fundamentals that allow him to see many pitches.
Against Cole Winn, the Rangers' right-handed reliever who entered in the seventh, Canzone waited for his mistake. A pitch left over the plate, slightly too center. A placement error that a confident hitter doesn't forgive. The ball left at 107 miles per hour on contact, high enough and deep enough to leave no chance for the outfield.
Arozarena, the immediate follow-up
While the Texas crowd digests the blow, Randy Arozarena steps into the box. Winn's second pitch. Same mistake, same punishment. The Cuban, hitting his 12th home run of the year, has a flair for hot moments and a showman's instinct. His compact swing, triggered without hesitation, propelled the ball 400 feet further, right into the Rangers' bullpen.
The double thunderbolt turned around a game that Texas had controlled until then. Nicky Lopez and Brandon Nimmo had hit RBI singles in the fourth inning, deGrom had silenced Seattle for five full innings. Everything collapsed on two pitches.
AL West: every win counts
The Mariners' success in Arlington doesn't just save a poorly started Texas weekend. It keeps Seattle's team in contact in an American League West division where the gaps remain tiny. Houston, Texas, and Seattle are within a stone's throw of each other as the final two months of the regular season approach. Every game within the division counts double.
The Rangers, for their part, feel the blow. Corey Seager is on the injured list until the end of July, and the Texas bullpen has shown its limits in pressure moments. Cole Winn, the designated victim of the two home runs, carried the weight of a game's end that the Texas offense couldn't put out of reach.
The series between Seattle and Texas ended in a split, two wins each in a four-game format that stretched from Friday to Sunday. Enough to settle nothing, enough to keep all scenarios alive. The two teams will meet again in Seattle in mid-August for a new showdown on neutral ground.