Mariners down Rangers
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty ImagesAdrian Beltre (29) of the Seattle Mariners follows his pop-fly against the Oakland Athletics during a game on July 10 in Oakland, Calif. Beltre homered Thursday night to help the Mariners defeat the Texas Rangers 8-5.
Mariners 8
Rangers 5
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey limited his former team to two runs and six hits pitching into the eighth inning, Adrian Beltre homered and the Seattle Mariners held on to beat the Texas Rangers 8-5 Thursday night.
Dickey (3-6) had lost his previous three decisions, but was in control against a lineup that entered the game with a team batting average of .282, tops in the majors. He struck out two and walked one in 7 2-3 innings.
The 33-year-old righthander was the Rangers' first-round pick in 1996 and was with Texas for parts of five seasons. Arm problems forced him to begin throwing the knuckler in July 2005, and the Rangers allowed him to become a free agent last year.
The Rangers loaded the bases without a hit in the first, but Dickey worked out of the jam by retiring David Murphy on a ground out. Dickey held the Rangers hitless until Josh Hamilton doubled leading off the fourth.
Ichiro Suzuki tripled, doubled and scored twice for the Mariners, who had lost nine of their previous 11 and seven of the last nine against the Rangers.
Ramon Vazquez homered and added three RBIs for the Rangers, and Chris Davis went 3-for-4.
Texas rallied in the ninth, cutting into an 8-2 deficit on Vazquez's RBI single and Frank Catalanotto's two-run double. But Mariners closer J.J. Putz, who entered the game in a non-save situation, got the final two outs.
Seattle took a 2-0 lead in the first off Matt Harrison (2-2) on Raul Ibanez's run-scoring double and Beltre's RBI ground out.
The Mariners got two more in the second. Jamie Burke reached on an error and scored when Suzuki doubled and went to third on Murphy's fielding error. Suzuki raced home on Harrison's wild pitch.
Seattle bumped the lead to 6-0 in the fourth when Miguel Cairo scored from third on Jeremy Reed's RBI fielder's choice, and Suzuki followed with a sacrifice fly.
Harrison allowed six runs - four earned - and five hits over 4 2-3 innings, with five walks and two strikeouts in his fifth major league start.
Beltre's two-run blast in the eighth off Dustin Nippert made it 8-0, but Vazquez broke up Dickey's bid for his second career shutout with a two-run shot in the eighth.