In the wake of last week's brawl between the Mariners and Rangers, it was hard to tell if Major League Baseball was worried or not about more trouble erupting between the teams.
Umpiring crew chief Gary Cederstrom did not warn the clubs about the consequences of further bean balls prior to the start of the series Monday. MLB did, however, send Daryl Hamilton, who assists league disciplinarian Bob Watson, to observe the series. "We are aware of the situation," Cederstrom said. "The players have a job to do and we have a job to do. If they don't do the job correctly, then we will handle it." Monday's game went off without any issues even though Rangers starter Vicente Padilla has hit more batters than any pitcher in the majors since 2002. Padilla did not hit anyone Monday.
The most intriguing game of the series comes Tuesday in a rematch of the pitchers who started last week's brawl game. Lefty Kason Gabbard will start for the Rangers and righty Felix Hernandez starts for Seattle.
Hernandez hit two Rangers in that game and has hit three batters in his last three starts against the Rangers. He has two hit batsmen in his other 35 starts since the start of 2007. Ian Kinsler has been hit twice, including once last week in the plate appearance after he homered.
RANGERS 13, MARINERS 12 (10 innings): Third baseman Ramon Vazquez hit the Rangers' first walk-off homer in exactly one year to end a wild game that saw the Rangers rally from five runs down against Erik Bedard only to blow a four-run ninth-inning lead.
After falling down 5-0 in the first, the Rangers rallied to score six runs over the first three innings and chase Bedard before the end of the third. They built a 10-6 lead, but righty Joaquin Benoit gave up two runs in the eighth. The Rangers got those runs back in the ninth, but lefty C.J. Wilson blew the four-run lead in a 31-pitch ninth inning that culminated with catcher Kenji Johjima hitting a two-out, high 0-and-2 fastball for the game-tying homer.
