Texas (52-41) at Seattle (43-49)

The All-Star break didn’t cool off the Texas Rangers, and it doesn’t appear as if the Seattle Mariners can slow down the majors’ hottest team.

The AL West-leading Rangers look to extend their longest winning streak of the season to nine games Friday night when they meet the weak-hitting Mariners in the second of a four-game set.
Texas (52-41) returned from the break by hitting three homers in a 5-0 win Thursday. All-Star Josh Hamilton(notes) opened the scoring with a solo shot in the first, and Nelson Cruz(notes) and Mike Napoli(notes) also went deep as Derek Holland(notes) pitched his second consecutive shutout.
“We finished first half strong,” Cruz said. “It’s good to start second half the way we started today.”
The defending AL champions have outscored opponents 58-22 during their current run, their longest since winning 11 in a row June 12-24, 2010.
Seattle (43-49), meanwhile, has totaled nine runs during a six-game losing streak to fall 8 1/2 games behind Texas. The Mariners are last in the majors in both runs (301) and batting average (.223).
“Until these guys understand that you’ve got to take some risks, get out there and square up the ball, make adjustments to what you are seeing from the opposing pitcher, we’re going to continue to struggle,” manager Eric Wedge said.
Seattle’s Doug Fister(notes) (3-10, 3.09 ERA), who has the lowest run support average in the majors, will try to snap the Mariners’ slide.
The right-hander has been backed by an average of only 2.15 runs per nine innings - including a combined eight runs over his last seven starts. Fister is 0-5 in that stretch, losing his second consecutive start July 7 when he yielded three runs and seven hits in six innings of a 5-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels.
Fister, who will face Texas for the first time in 2011, is 1-2 with a 4.81 ERA in four starts against the Rangers. He won the last one with seven strong innings in a 2-1 victory Sept. 19.
Texas’ Colby Lewis(notes) (8-7, 4.38) will try again to record his first career win at Safeco Field.
The right-hander is 4-0 against the Mariners at home, but 0-4 with a 3.72 ERA over six starts in Seattle. The Rangers have given Lewis one or zero runs of support four times and a total of seven when visiting the Mariners. He lost in Seattle on May 5 after allowing three runs and eight hits in eight innings of a 3-1 defeat.
Lewis, though, is 3-0 with a 2.97 ERA in his last five starts. The worst of those outings came Saturday when he was tagged for five runs in six innings, but Hamilton hit a two-run walkoff homer to beat Oakland 7-6.
Texas is 5-2 against the Mariners this season, with both losses coming in four games in Seattle.
Ichiro Suzuki(notes) went 0 for 4 in the series opener and is 0 for 8 in his last two games, dropping his batting average to .267. He’s 16 for 41 (.390) against Lewis.
Miguel Olivo(notes) was the only Mariner with two hits Thursday, but he’s 0 for 10 with five strikeouts versus Lewis.