Michael Lorenzen logged 6 1/3 scoreless innings and the Texas Rangers blanked the host Miami Marlins 7-0 on Saturday.
Lorenzen (3-3) allowed five hits, walked two and fanned seven for Texas, which has taken the first two games of the three-game series.
Corey Seager went 3-for-4 with a run and a walk to headline the Rangers’ offense. He increased his hitting streak to 14 and has reached base in 24 straight appearances.
Marcus Semien also had three hits, while Robbie Grossman, Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith each finished with two as Texas won for the fourth time in five games.
Miami starter Ryan Weathers (3-5) recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts but was roughed up for four runs and nine hits in six innings. He didn’t issue a walk.
Josh Bell had the only extra-base hit for the Marlins, a double in the ninth. Miami scored 17 runs while winning its previous two games.
Grossman ripped an RBI double and Adolis Garcia added a sacrifice fly as Texas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third.
The Rangers doubled their lead an inning later.
After Langford led off with a base hit, Smith shot a ground-ball single in between first and second. Right fielder Jesus Sanchez tried to cut down Langford at third on the play, but Langford slid safely into the bag, with Sanchez’s throw skipping into the Miami dugout.
Langford was awarded home, and two batters later, Andrew Knizner had a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
Grossman smacked a run-scoring single in the seventh and Langford lined a two-run single to left in the ninth to put the finishing touches on the victory.
Although it fell into an early hole, Miami put plenty of pressure on Lorenzen in the early going. It had runners on first and second with no outs in the home half of the first, but Bell grounded into a double play and Sanchez struck out to prevent the Marlins from breaking out early.
Miami also had runners on first and second — this time with two outs — in the second and third innings, but it came up empty in both frames.
In the ninth, the Marlins loaded the bases against Gerson Garabito, but they couldn’t spoil the shutout.
–Field Level Media
