Texas Rangers

The revolving door to the Rangers' injury-plagued starting rotation picked up another fill-in late Friday when manager Ron Washington announced that left-hander Martin Perez would start one of the two games Monday in a doubleheader at Arizona. Perez is likely to start the first game, with Yu Darvish starting the second. Perez was the choice over right-handers Josh Lindblom, who started Monday and lost to Oakland, and Ross Wolf, who beat Oakland on Wednesday. Major-league rules allow for teams to carry a 26th player for a doubleheader, so Wolf will be in the bullpen. Perez, 22, allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings Tuesday for Triple A Round Rock. He is the Rangers' top pitching prospect and was headed toward a spot in the season-opening rotation before being struck on the arm by a line drive during a spring game March 3. He suffered a broken ulna and missed the next eight weeks. He made his major-league debut last season, going 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA. He will become the ninth different pitcher to start a game for the Rangers this season. Matt Harrison (back) and Alexi Ogando (biceps tendinitis), and Wolf filled in for Nick Tepesch on Wednesday after he was scratched with a blister on his right finger. Tepesch is expected to start Sunday. -- Jeff Wilson

The 3-6-1 double play the Rangers turned for the first two outs of the second inning should have never happened, but first-base umpire Jeff Nelson wrongly thought Mitch Moreland had caught a throw from Elvis Andrus in time to put out Jesus Sucre. The problem for Nelson and the Mariners was that pitcher Justin Grimm, standing well off the base, caught the ball. Brendan Ryan followed with a game-tying RBI single, and Seattle should have had runners at second and third with one out. Instead, Michael Saunders looked at strike three to end the inning. Here's Grimm's take: "That happened so fast I didn’t realize the ump had called him out. Mitch came up to me and said, 'Well, he called him out, so walk with me.' "I just started walking back to the mound like, 'Dang it. What did I do?' They’ve got a tough job, and not many people realize how quick things happen out there. We caught a break, for sure." Moreland had stretched for the ball, and appeared to be limping as he walked toward the mound. "I think that's just more the way I walk," he said. "I kind of wondered where it went, and then I looked up and saw Grimm there and was like, 'Well, I guess he caught it.' Then, I heard, 'Out.' "I told him to walk with me because I figured there was going to be an argument. That's the way it works sometimes. Nobody's perfect, especially in this game. It went our way." Mariners manager Eric Wedge argued, but not because Grimm caught the ball. Wedge thought that Moreland's foot hadn't held the bag. "It would have been a much bigger argument if I had known that at the time," Wedge said. Rangers manager Ron Washington was asked if he had seen a replay of the disputed play. "I don't have to see the replay," he said. "We caught a break there." -- Jeff Wilson      

SEATTLE – On Friday, the Rangers pulled off perhaps the greatest trick play in the history of baseball: the unintentional hidden ball tick. Whatever. It worked. And it was also a key play in the Rangers’ eventual 9-5 win over Seattle that sent the Mariners to their seventh consecutive loss. Here’s what actually happened: With the Rangers leading 2-1 heading to the bottom of the second inning, Seattle put the first two runners on base against wobbly starter RHP … [visit site to read more]

SEATTLE – RHP Ross Wolf may have beaten the Oakland A’s this week, but it’s not enough to earn him a second major league start. At least not yet. Instead, the Texas Rangers will turn to LHP Martin Perez the next time that spot in the rotation comes up Monday when the Rangers play a doubleheader against Arizona. Perez is expected to start the first game of the doubleheader and RHP Yu Darvish will start the second. Wolf goes into the Rangers bullpen and will be available to … [visit site to read more]

Who caught the ball? Grimm caught the ball: Player of the Game: With Justin Grimm looking hittable in the early innings, Lance Berkman's three-run dong in the 3rd, to put the Rangers up 5-2, was the biggest hit of the evening

SEATTLE — Lance Berkman hit a three-run homer, Jeff Baker had a two-run shot, and David Murphy delivered a two-run single as the Rangers backed Justin Grimm en route to a 9-5 victory Friday over the Mariners at Safeco Field. Baker’s homer, his fifth, came with two outs in the second off Joe Saunders and lifted the Rangers into a 2-1 lead. Berkman’s blast, his fourth, came in the third and broke a 2-2 tie. With the Rangers leading 6-3 in the seventh, Nelson Cruz singled up the middle for a two-out RBI single and, after A.J. Pierzynski walked to fill the bases, Murphy dumped a soft single into left to make it 9-3. Murphy had pinch-hit for Baker in the sixth, so the Rangers got four RBIs from their left fielders.Grimm allowed two-out runs in each of the first three innings and allowed 10 hits, but he pitched into the seventh. He got the first out of the inning before giving way to Neal Cotts. Grimm (4-3) benefited in the second inning from a blown call on the back end of a double play. Jesus Sucre was called out at first even though Grimm had caught the ball before it got to first baseman Mitch Moreland. Brendan Ryan followed with a two-out RBI double, but the Mariners could have had a bigger inning. -- Jeff Wilson

The Rangers won their second straight game, beginning their three-game road series against Seattle with a 9-5 victory on Friday night. The Rangers used home runs from Lance Berkman and Jeff Baker to power their way to their 31st victory, maintaining a 5 1/2 game lead over Oakland. Berkman ends power drought: Berkman belted his first home run since May 11 with a three-run shot in the top of the third to give the Rangers a 5-2 lead. It was Berkman's first home run as a right-handed batter this season.

Go Rangers!

SCOUTING THE STARTERS NEXT at Seattle, 9:10 p.m. today (FSSW) Rangers starter: LHP Derek Holland (3-2, 3.30 ERA) has seemed to slip back into some old, bad habits in his last two starts, losing focus in key situations. He failed to make it through the fifth inning for the first time this season Sunday against Detroit. In the process, he allowed a pair of homers to Miguel Cabrera and walked three batters. In his last three starts, Holland has … [visit site to read more]

Briefly: LHP Derek Holland said he must do a better job of getting ahead of hitters when he takes the mound Saturday. Holland averaged 14.5 pitches per inning in his first seven starts, but has thrown 19.7 pitches per inning his last two times out while allowing eight runs in 10 1/3 innings. … 2B Ian Kinsler, currently on the DL with a strained intercostal muscle, did not make the road trip and is rehabbing in Texas. Kinsler is eligible to come off the DL on June 2, but has not yet … [visit site to read more]