Randy Arozarena had a one-out bases-loaded single in the ninth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night, spoiling the return of Max Scherzer.
Victor Robles doubled and stole third and Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh walked before Arozarena hit a sharp ground ball off Jose Leclerc (6-5) that got by shortstop Josh Smith to score Robles.
Arozarena has four career walk-off hits: three singles and a home run. His single Saturday night came on an 0-2 count.
"The first two pitches, I was really just trying to hit a home run," Arozarena said through interpreter Juan Rodriguez. "Took some big swings, but then after that, I shortened it up for the third one, really focusing on making contact, and was able to do so."
With Houston's victory over the Los Angeles Angels, the Mariners remained 4½ games back in the American League West standings, and they are 2½ games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final AL wild-card playoff spot.
"We've played a lot of one-run games during this stretch, and we've come out on top of a lot of them," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. "We've come out the other side. It feels a lot better to get on top of those one-run games, and tonight was no exception. It does prepare you for what may be ahead, but we just take it obviously one night at a time."
Andres Munoz (3-6) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.
Josh Rojas gave the Mariners the lead with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the second, but Leody Taveras put Texas ahead with a two-run blast to right field off Logan Gilbert in the third.
Rodriguez hit a 446-foot home run to left field off Scherzer in the third to tie it, his sixth consecutive hit and second 400-foot homer in as many games. Rodríguez had two hits on the night and now has seven hits in the Mariners' past three games.
Since Aug. 28, Rodríguez is hitting .353.
"Everybody knows when Julio is going really well, we're a really, really good team. Completely different," Gilbert said. "So it's fun to see what he's doing. I know he's always had the confidence and composure no matter what's going on, so it says a lot about him, especially at his age."
Gilbert struck out seven batters over six innings of work, with four earned runs and six hits given up.
Scherzer was activated from the injured list before the game after being sidelined since July 30 because of shoulder problems. He pitched four innings, giving up two earned runs and five hits with two strikeouts.
Marcus Semien gave the Rangers the lead in the top of the fifth with a two-run homer, but Luke Raley tied it again with a two-run blast in the bottom half off Jack Leiter, his career-high 20th of the season.
Leiter pitched four innings in relief, giving up two earned runs and three hits with six strikeouts.
Robles stole two bases on the night for Seattle. He is 25-for-25 in stolen-base attempts since joining the team June 5 and has swiped third base 11 times.
"How much is their aggressive baserunning a part of tonight? Yeah, we have to do a better job," Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. "Yeah, that's on the pitchers. You know, be a little quicker and watch them. We knew that coming into the game and put us in a tough situation there."
The Mariners are 14-1 when wearing their City Connect uniforms.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.