Texas rallied with two runs in the bottom of the inning to pull to within 5-4, but the Mariners pulled away with three runs in the ninth against Walter Pennington, who allowed a double, a triple and a hit a batter left with two outs and two on before Rodriguez's two-run single against Gerson Garabito made it 8-4.

The title defense for the Texas Rangers is over. The reigning World Series champions were eliminated from postseason contention during their last homestand of the season. The Rangers went into Saturday night's matchup with Seattle eight games behind Minnesota for the third AL wild card with eight to go.

The Rangers are on the verge of becoming just the sixth team in the past 25 years to win a World Series then finish below .500 the next season.