Joc Pederson homered twice to drive in four runs and the Texas Rangers wrapped up a key AL West series against the Seattle Mariners with a 7-3 winBySTEPHEN HAWKINS AP baseball writerJuly 27, 2026, 5:18 PMARLINGTON, Texas -- Joc Pederson homered twice to drive in four runs and Ezequiel Duran and Jake Burger also went deep for the Texas Rangers in a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday. They took three of four in the series to stretch their AL West lead to 2 1/2 games.All four homers came in the first three innings off George Kirby (8-9). The right-hander had been 9-1 with a 1.33 ERA in his previous 13 career starts against the Rangers.Texas righty Kumar Rocker (4-8) struck out seven while allowing two runs over 6 2/3 innings. He had thrown one-hit ball over six scoreless innings six days earlier in a win against the Chicago White Sox.The Rangers (54-52), the only AL West team with a winning record, had a half-game lead over the Mariners before winning the first two games of the series. Seattle (52-55) won 6-4 Sunday, when Texas lost for the first time this season when leading after six innings.Pederson got Texas started with his fifth leadoff homer, and the 32nd of his career. The opposite-field liner to left-center extended his hitting streak to eight games.After Randy Arozarena's tying homer in the second, Pederson hit a three-run shot in the bottom of the inning. Pederson's 19th homer, his 13th hit in a span of 29 at-bats, landed in the first row of seats just beyond the wall in right.Duran led off the third with a second-deck shot to left for his 12th homer. Three batters later, Burger had a two-run homer, his 19th time going deep, for a 7-2 lead.Popular ReadsIt was the third time in Kirby's 132 starts over five seasons that he allowed four homers in a game. He struck out three without a walk in four innings.The Mariners and Rangers both open road series against league leaders on Tuesday night. Texas is at American League-best Tampa Bay, and Seattle heads to Los Angeles to play the National League-leading Dodgers.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb