Teagarden’s hit in 9th lifts Texas over Seattle

SEATTLE — Taylor Teagarden got to show the Texas Rangers what he can do.

The Rangers’ rookie backup catcher came through with a go-ahead single off David Aardsma and Texas scored three runs with two outs in the ninth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners 7-4 Friday night.

“I’m so happy for him,” Rangers’ manager Ron Washington said. “He’s getting the opportunity to play down the stretch. He’s certainly been showing lately that he starting to come around with the bat. That was a big hit he got for us.”

Teagarden, getting a regular chance to play with Jarrod Saltalamacchia sidelined by a shoulder injury, is batting .341 in his last 12 games.

“I had never faced Aardsma before,” Teagarden said. “I was just trying to put the bat on the ball, not do too much. He threw a slider that kind of backed up and I got it out there down the line.

“I’ve been piecing things together the last month, keeping my approach really simple.”

The victory assured the Rangers of second place in the AL West for the second straight year behind the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle needed to sweep the series to finish in a tie with Texas.

“It means everything. If you can’t get first, you want to finish second,” Washington said. “We certainly didn’t want to lose it and we certainly didn’t want to share it. So they took it and we don’t have to share it. It means a lot.

“Tonight, those guys put the stamp on it and they did it in style.”

It was 4-all in the ninth when Chris Davis, who had three hits, hit a two-out single off Aardsma (3-6). Esteban German and Teagarden then singled to put Texas in front and Elvis Andrus followed with a two-run double into the left-field corner.

The Rangers had tied it in the eighth on Michael Young’s two-out, RBI single off Mark Lowe.

“The bottom line is they scored a lot of runs with two outs — four runs from the eighth inning on,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “The situational hitting or the timing of our hitting was not good, but theirs was.”

C.J. Wilson (5-6) earned the victory. Frank Francisco pitched the ninth for his 25th save in 29 opportunities.

Seattle’s Mike Carp had three hits, including a two-run single in the fourth.

Teagarden hit a double, Omar Vizquel had an RBI grounder and Borbon singled home a run for a 2-0 lead in the second. Davis singled home a run in the third.

The Mariners made it 3-all in the fourth against Brandon McCarthy. Franklin Gutierrez opened with a double, Jose Lopez extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single and Adrian Beltre had an RBI single.

After a passed ball by Teagarden, Carp hit a two-run single.

“It’s my favorite time to be in the box, knowing I’m going to get something good to hit and put it in play,” Carp said. “Chances are you can get a run in there.

“You go up there with that mindset and I got a good pitch to hit and put it in the gap.”

The Mariners went ahead 4-3 in the fifth. Josh Wilson opened with a double, moved up on Ichiro Suzuki’s groundout and scored on a single by Lopez, giving him a team-leading 94 RBIs.

McCarthy was removed with two outs in the fifth, disappointed he couldn’t continue.

“I’d like to know that they have the confidence behind me to work my way out of my own problems,” McCarthy said. “There were certain pitches here and there I would like to have back, but for the most part there weren’t many pitches that I wouldn’t throw going back out there again. I’m out there giving it my all. I would love to have a little confidence behind me.”

NOTES: Suzuki, with 221 hits, has claimed another piece of baseball history. He is the only player to have five seasons with at least 220 hits. He previously shared the record of four with Rogers Hornsby. … Rangers talented rookie Julio Borbon, hitting .324 in 44 games, made his first start in center field. “I’m waiting to see what it is,” Washington said before the game. “We’ll throw him out there the next three days and see what happens.”