Texas’s ARLINGTON (AP) — All season long, Corey Seager and the Texas Rangers have stressed the importance of perseverance. Their All-Stars have all been hurt, two starting pitchers with numerous Cy Young Award wins have passed away, and they lost first place due to a late-season collapse.

With nine games remaining in the regular season, they are back atop the AL West for the first time since September as a result of all of that.

The Texas Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners 8-5 on Friday night after Seager hit his 32nd home run and youngster Evan Carter added an early three-run shot. At around the same time as Houston suffered a home loss, a pivotal series’ opening game ended.

“Throughout the year, we discussed winning series. And that’s what it will boil down to, Seager said: winning the next three series.

“We predicted that it would be a dogfight to the bitter end in late August. Mitch Garver, the designated hitter for the catcher, stated, “It kind of just happened the way we wanted it to. “It’s just about working hard, making sure we take every pitch seriously, and making sure we make these games matter.”

The Rangers (85-68) and Mariners started the day tied for the third and final wild-card place in the American League, and one half-game back for the division lead. The Astros (85-69) fell below Texas and into the third wild-card place, though, after losing to Kansas City (102 losses). Seattle (84-69), who fell short of the postseason threshold, was still ahead of them by a half-game.

“The competition is fierce. These contests will be fiercely contested and back and forth, according to M’s manager Scott Servais. And you simply need to maintain the belief that you will never recover.

In the ninth inning, Seattle scored a run off of hard-throwing Aroldis Chapman, who gave up three singles and a walk. The bases were loaded when Josh Jung, a rookie All-Star third baseman, made a great grab on the game-winning grounder even though he had struck out two. Jung only participated in his fourth game following a six-week absence due to a fractured left thumb.

Over the final ten days of the regular season, Texas and Seattle would play seven more games. The remaining three Mariners games are against the Astros at home.

Texas is back in the lead for the first time since August 29 after dominating the AL West for 148 of the first 149 days of the season.

Seager, the AL’s leading hitter with a .333 average, snapped a 2-for-22 slide with a first-pitch homer in the first inning off rookie Bryce Miller (8-6). In the second inning of his 14th big-league game, Carter also homered on the first pitch he saw to put Texas ahead 4-0.

Dane Dunning (11-6), the Rangers’ starting pitcher, had only given up one hit prior to the first three Seattle batters reaching base to start the sixth inning. Leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford had an infield single, Julio Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and Cal Raleigh followed with his 30th homer to get Seattle within 8-3.

Dunning pitched for 5 1/3 innings, surrendering four runs while striking out two and walking two. Against Miller, the Rangers scored six runs on six hits over four and a third innings.

The Rangers, who won their third game in a row since a 10-20 stretch that had knocked them out of the division lead, extended their lead to 8-0 in fifth when facing Miller and two relievers.

Miller was lifted with two runners on and an out before Tayler Saucedo gave up an RBI fielder’s choice grounder to the first batter he faced, and later walked batters in a row — the second was Jonah Heim with the bases loaded. After Trent Thornton took over the mound, Garver hit a two-run single.

In the top of the sixth, Texas then utilized three pitchers. But Andrew Heaney, the second reliever, needed only one pitch to get an inning-ending groundout right after Chris Stratton walked No. 9 batter Josh Rojas with the bases loaded.

Toronto (86-68) remained the AL’s second wild card after a 6-2 win earlier Friday at wild-card leader Tampa Bay (94-61).

READERS’ ROOM

Mariners: Rodriguez was hit by a 91.3 mph slider. The young star was clearly in discomfort after getting struck around his left elbow, but stayed in the game after getting checked on by Servais and a trainer.

Rangers: Reliever Josh Sborz, out since Sept. 5 because of a left hamstring strain, threw live BP before the game. Manager Bruce Bochy said Sborz looked sharp but didn’t have an update on the next step for the reliever.

UP NEXT

Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (13-6, 3.77 ERA), who has a 2.83 ERA in eight career starts against the Rangers, faces them in the middle game of the series Saturday night. Trade deadline acquisition lefty Jordan Montgomery (9-11, 3.38) pitches for Texas.