Beltre's two homers help Rangers win

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Adrian Beltre entered Thursday's game in a 22-game drought without a home run, the longest in his tenure with the Texas Rangers.

Beltre snapped out of it in a big way, helping his Texas Rangers to a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners to avoid their first home sweep against the Mariners since 2001.

The bigger of his two home runs came in the seventh inning with the Rangers trailing 3-1 after giving up a two-run homer to Raul Ibanez in the top half.

The Rangers third basemen began a stretch of four consecutive at-bats in which Texas players would reach safely. It enabled the Rangers to turn the two-run deficit into a two-run advantage.

"The last couple of days we haven't been able to get the big hit and that is what I was trying to do from the middle of the order," Beltre said. "Even though it was late in the game we were able to attack their starting pitcher."

Beltre's second home run of the game gave him 362 career home runs and moved him past Joe DiMaggio for 75th all-time.

"Congratulations to him," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He makes everyone around him better. He shows up every day not only to do his job but to beat his opponent."

Beltre finished 3-for-4 in notching his fourth three-hit game of the season.

Completing the rally, Mitch Moreland tied the game with a roller up the middle to score A.J. Pierzynski, and the Rangers jumped on top with a sacrifice fly from Elvis Andrus that scored Engel Beltre. Texas added another run when Ian Kinsler's bloop single brought home Moreland.

"It was real huge, especially at the time because we needed it," Washington said of the at-bats by Moreland and Andrus. "We got a chance to run the bases and it's exciting when we can run the bases."

Seattle got a run back in the eighth, but Joe Nathan worked around a two-out single in the ninth to earn his 28th save of the season.

The Rangers (49-36) broke a brief two-game skid and remained a half-game back of Oakland in the American League West after the Athletics' earlier 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

The Mariners (37-48) received much of their offense from Ibanez, who finished with a season-high four hits, including a two-run home run that put Seattle ahead 3-1 in the top of the seventh.

However, Seattle finished 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma (7-4) continued to have the long ball plague him. Iwakuma departed after pitching six-plus innings, giving up both home runs to Beltre. With the two long balls, Iwakuma has given up seven in his last three starts.

Texas starter Martin Perez went 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run, which was unearned.

Josh Lindblom (1-2) got the last two outs of the seventh inning to earn the win.

Lindblom inherited runners on the corners in replacing Neal Cotts on the mound. Lindblom picked up a strikeout for the second out and, after intentionally walking Endy Chavez, forced Henry Blanco to fly out to center to work out of the jam.

"He just came in and executed his pitches," Washington said. "He fed (Justin) Smoak some change ups and he was looking for one and Lindblom ended up getting him with a fastball inside and that was huge."

The Mariners struggled to produce the hit necessary to even the game. Seattle had runners in scoring position in four consecutive innings spanning the second and fifth but failed to score.

"We had multiple innings late where we could of done that," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said of getting a big hit. "The difference tonight was that you can't leave that many runners on in a one-run ballgame and expect to win one."

Blanco hit into an inning-ending double play in the second with the bases loaded, and Kendrys Morales had a hard-hit line drive snagged by Andrus at short with runners on the corners in the third.

The Mariners stranded 13 on base overall despite having four hitters with at least a pair of hits. Kyle Seager picked up three hits on the night, while Smoak was joined by Nick Franklin with a pair.

NOTES: OF Michael Saunders was held out of the Mariners' lineup for a fifth consecutive game due to a right hand injury. Saunders appeared in Wednesday night's game as a pinch runner. ... Texas RHP Joakim Soria (Tommy John surgery in April 2012) moved his rehab assignment to Double-A Frisco. ... Andrus was slotted eighth in the batting order, marking the first time since 2010 he was not No. 1 or 2 in the lineup.