SEATTLE - In his first full major league game, Leury Garcia didn't look like a rookie even in the midst of a wacky play.
Garcia picked up his first major league hit leading off the sixth inning of the Texas Rangers' 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.
Four batters later, he was on third after the Rangers loaded the bases, and Nelson Cruz hit a broken-bat line drive with one out at Justin Smoak.
The ball hit the heel of the first baseman's glove, bounced out and Garcia broke for home. Smoak grabbed the ball and threw to second for the forceout. While Ian Kinsler got caught between second and third and was tagged out by third baseman Kyle Seager for an inning-ending double play, Garcia managed to cross the plate with the tying run.
"For the first time out there, he didn't show any nerves," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "He had a good game."
That tied the score 1-all, and Texas took the lead in the eighth when Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre hit RBI singles with two outs.
"I saw the line drive, so it was like a freeze," said Garcia, limited to one pinch-hit at-bat coming in. "And then I saw him drop it and 鈥� gone."
Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan already had booted a potential double-play ball earlier in the sixth. Smoak said Beltre, who was intentionally walked to load the bases, momentarily blocked his view.
"I should have caught the ball, first of all, but Beltre coming back to the bag kind of blinded me," Smoak said. "It happened so quick, I just threw it to second."
It was the only run the Rangers got off of Mariners starter Joe Saunders, who didn't get a decision. He allowed one run 鈥� unearned 鈥� and three hits in seven innings and is 7-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 11 starts at Safeco Fiel.
Carter Capps (0-1) walked Craig Gentry leading off the eighth and then got two outs before Andrus broke the tie with a hit to right field. Andrus stole second and kept going to third when Capps' pitch went to the backstop for a wild pitch, and he scored on Beltre's single.
"It's been like that. We haven't been swinging the bat the way we've wanted lately," Beltre said. "The key to us has been the pitching staff keeping us in the game. ... We hang around for a couple innings, then we score one or two and that's it, that's all we need."
Joe Ortiz (2-0) pitched two innings for his second win in three days, and Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in four chances.
Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI for the Mariners, who have lost four of five.
Seattle also took advantage of a ball deflecting off a fielders' glove for its first run. Kelly Shoppach led off with a double down the left-field line that bounced over the outfield fence and went to third on Dustin Ackley's single. With one out, Endy Chavez popped up to left, but it was too shallow for Shoppach to attempt to score.
Bay followed with a liner to centre that hit Gentry's glove as he dove. The ball bounced off, allowing Shoppach to score the game's first run.
Texas would have liked to have made more of its sixth-inning bases-loaded opportunity, but the Rangers were pleased in the end.
"You have to be happy every time you take something, to be sure," Andrus said. "We tied the game and we kept ourselves close and we were able to cash out."
NOTES: Seattle CF Franklin Gutierrez was out of the starting lineup for the second straight day. Mariners manager Eric Wedge said Gutierrez had tightness in his right groin but hoped the outfielder would return to the lineup Sunday. ... Rangers RHP Yu Darvish will have his next start pushed back to Friday against the Mariners in Texas, giving him two extra days of rest. LHP Derrick Holland, RHP Justin Grimm and RHP Alexi Ogando will be the starters for the Rangers' series at the Chicago Cubs starting Tuesday. ... RHP D.J. Mitchell cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent after he was designated for assignment by Seattle on Thursday.
