4      3   Final

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  Mariners 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 10 1  Rangers 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 7 0

And the suicide squeeze bunt that went awry in the ninth inning Wednesday night epitomized what has been happening to a team on the fast track to playoff elimination, as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Rangers before 23,470 at The Ballpark in Arlington.

The Mariners, who had battled back from a three-run deficit to pull even in the eighth inning, got a leadoff double in the ninth by Bret Boone and a one-out double by Carlos Guillen.

Two doubles surely resulted in a run, you say?

Nope. A heads-up play by left fielder Todd "Deke" Hollandsworth fooled Boone, keeping him at second base and all he could do was make it to third. Pinch-hitter Jose Offerman tried to squeeze Boone home on a 2-2 count, missed the pitch completely and struck out. Boone was tagged out.

The bottom of the ninth inning began and ended with a walk-off home run by Todd Greene.

Ruben Sierra, who has done some of his best hitting this season against the Rangers, delivered the Mariners' first run all by himself, hitting a home run to right-center in the seventh inning. It was his 13th homer of the season and his first since July 14 in the Tropicana Dome.

There was more offense in the eighth inning, which began with a walk to Mike Cameron that ended Lewis' first MLB start. Danny Kolb replaced Lewis and promptly threw a wild pitch, which advanced Cameron to second. Ichiro laced a double to left-center to score Cameron.

After Desi Relaford failed to advance Ichiro to third, Kolb did it himself by throwing another wild pitch. Edgar Martinez then poked a game-tying single to right field.

Garcia was the bright light of the night for Seattle, although he received a no-decision for his solid seven-inning outing. In one of his best performances of the season, he accumulated 12 strikeouts, matching his career high set against the Tigers on Aug. 24, 1999.

In fact, the first six outs Garcia recorded Wednesday night were strikeouts.

However, the three batters he didn't strike out in the first two innings put him in a two-run hole.

Garcia struck out Mike Young and Mike Lamb to begin the bottom of the first and then walked Alex Rodriguez on a full-count pitch. A-Rod immediately took off for second base and made it with ease.

Rafael Palmeiro followed with a line drive single to right field that scored A-Rod and put Texas in front, 1-0. Garcia then struck out Ivan Rodriguez to end the inning and started the second inning with two more strikeouts as Carl Everett and Todd Hollandsworth went down swinging.

Blalock, on the other hand, went up swinging. He connected, sending a high fastball into the first row of seats in right field. Blalock's second home run of the season was his first since April 30 against the Blue Jays; it was the 27th roundtripper Garcia has surrendered this season.

Until this season, the Mariners' ace hadn't surrendered more than 16 home runs in a season.

Garcia had nine strikeouts on just 76 pitches through five innings.

Trouble is, the Mariners offense was practically non-existent against Lewis, a rookie right-hander who entered the game with a 7.82 ERA in 11 relief appearances. The Mariners didn't get a runner into scoring position until Sierra doubled with one out in the fifth inning. He advanced to third on a Carlos Guillen grounder to second base and remained at third on a Dan Wilson grounder to shortstop.

But there was more.

Ichiro reached base on a one-out bunt single in the sixth inning and scooted to third on Relaford's single to center. Primed to at least slice the two-run deficit in half, the Mariners watched as Martinez bounced into an inning-ending double play.

Making matters worse -- and the gap wider -- A-Rod pounded a 0-1 fastball deep into the seats in left-center field for his 54th home run of the season and his third in three games in this series.

The four-game series ends with a Thursday matinee. The Mariners will start right-hander Ryan Franklin (6-3, 4.05) against Rangers right-hander Chan Ho Park (8-6, 6.00).

Jim Street covers the Mariners for MLB.com and can be reached at jim.street@mlb.com. This story was not subject to the approval of MLB or its clubs.