Cal Raleigh homered again, rookie Cole Young also went deep and George Kirby pitched six strong innings as the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 6-0 on Thursday night. Raleigh hit his major league-leading 42nd home run in the fifth inning, two batters after Young hit his third, to give Seattle a 3-0 lead.

Seattle and Texas enter the series tied in the American League wild card race and both are battling for the playoffs.

The Rangers (-116 on the moneyline) square off against the Mariners (-102) in a projected close contest. The scheduled starters are Jack Leiter (7-6) for the Texas Rangers, and Logan Gilbert (3-4) for the Seattle Mariners.

The one consistent source of excellent performance by this maddeningly inconsistent Twins team has been the bullpen. The linchpin and leader of that group, diminutive southpaw Danny Coulombe, is now the third member to be traded in the runup to the deadline.

The starting staff wasn't the only part of the roster the Texas Rangers aimed to improve at Thursday's trade deadline, as they added left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe from the Minnesota Twins and right-hander Phil Maton from the St.