Hernandez earns 17th win, Cruz hits 40th homer as Mariners top Rangers, 5-0

SEATTLE They didn’t get the series sweep that would have propelled them back into the postseason discussion. But after dropping the first two of their four-game series with the Texas Rangers, the Mariners came back to salvage a split with a 5-0 victory Thursday afternoon at Safeco Field.

It was the second consecutive shutout for the Mariners.

Starter Felix Hernandez (17-8) did the bulk of the work. The ace worked eight scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.

Closer Tom Wilhelmsen worked the ninth to notch his 11th save of the season.

It was the second consecutive start of eight innings pitched for Hernandez, who skipped a start before his previous outing to strengthen him for the final month of the season.

The Rangers had scoring threats, but Hernandez worked around them, allowing just one runner to reach second base. Mitch Moreland led off the second inning with a double but didn’t advance.

Though the Mariners (68-73) needed only one run for a victory, they scored five off Rangers starter Derek Holland. That’s an accomplishment, considering Holland entered the game 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA in his past four starts with 25 strikeouts in 291/3 innings.

The Mariners got to Holland with two outs in the first inning. Playing in his first game since Sept. 2 because of a quad strain, Nelson Cruz singled sharply up the middle. Robinson Cano followed with a double into left field to put runners on second and third for Mark Trumbo.

After going 4-for-4 in Wednesday night’s win, Trumbo delivered again, rippling a low line drive just inside the right-field line for a two-run double.

It looked as though the Mariners would muster just those two runs against Holland, who settled down to pitch five scoreless innings after that with just three hits allowed. But the Mariners broke through in the seventh, sparked by the unlikeliest of candidates.

Jesus Sucre, who entered Thursday batting .118, led off with a ground-rule double. The Mariners then went into manufacture mode. Shawn O’Malley bunted Sucre to third. And after a fouled off suicide-squeeze attempt, Ketel Marte lined a single up the middle through a drawn-in infield to make it 3-0.

Cruz made his return to the lineup felt again, going with a first-pitch sinker over the outside part of the plate and driving it over the right-field wall for a two-run homer.

It was Cruz’s 40th home run of the season. He’s the fourth player in Mariners history to hit 40 homers in a season and the first since Alex Rodriguez in 2000.

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