ARLINGTON, Texas - July baseball doesn’t get much bigger than it was at Globe Life Field on Friday night.

The Texas Rangers were back in action to open a massive series against the Seattle Mariners 

Safe to say, Texas rose to their biggest moment of the season, claiming a 5-4 victory behind a two-run sixth inning and four frames of one-run ball from the bullpen.

“I just thought it was a really good team win,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after the game.

“We did little things well, played really good defense, the bullpen was outstanding tonight, we had clutch hits, played small ball, I just thought it was just an overall really good team win.”

Wyatt Langford got the scoring started early, blasting a solo home run in the first inning. The Rangers outfielder has now homered three times in his last five games and four times in 11 games since returning from the Injured List.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, that lead was only brief as starter MacKenzie Gore allowed a game-tying RBI single to Seattle second baseman Weston Wilson.

Gore would end up going five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five.

Seattle’s second and third runs of the night against Gore came right after Jake Burger gave the Rangers the lead with a two-run home run in the fourth.

“I think it’s kinda how the whole game was; we competed,” Gore said after the game. “We did give up a few more than we would have liked to, especially after scoring, but it was a tough game; we competed every inning and [it was] a huge win for us.”

With the game tied at 3-3 in the sixth, the Rangers struck for two runs in what proved to be the difference in the game as both Brandon Nimmo and Nicky Lopez drove in runs to give Texas a 5-3 lead.

With the lead in hand, Tyler Alexander and Cole Winn combined to pitch a scoreless eighth, and Jacob Latz earned his 20th save of the season as the Rangers jumped back over .500 at 52-51.

“The bullpen attacked; there weren’t many free passes, if at all,” Schumaker said when talking about the work of the bullpen.

With the win, the Rangers are now 5-2 against the Mariners this season and 4-0 against them at home. Texas now holds a season-high-tying 1.5-game lead in the AL West.

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