SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Bret Boone's solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning - his second home run of the game - lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 4-3 triumph over the Texas Rangers in the rubber game of their three-game series.
Boone and John Mabry hit solo shots in the seventh inning to put Seattle in front, 3-2. But Texas catcher Todd Greene hit his first homer of the season in the top of the eighth to tie the contest.
In the 13th, Boone drove a 2-0 pitch from Texas reliever R.A. Dickey (0-1) over the right field fence for his third home run of the season.
"I knew that he had a pretty good fastball," Boone said. "He started me off with two sliders. I knew he had to throw me a strike. He put a pitch out over the plate and I put a good swing on it."
"I did not execute the pitch I wanted to throw there," Dickey said. "It was the right call. I think I just did not locate it."
With relievers Giovanni Carrara and Arthur Rhodes not with the team, Seattle manager Bob Melvin used Shigetoshi Hasegawa for 3 1/3 innings before turning to closer Kazuhiro Sasaki (1-0) in a tie game.
Sasaki responded with a hitless inning.
Carrara and Rhodes were with their respective wives for the birth of their children.
"He wanted to go back out there after that last inning," Mariners manager Bob Melvin said of Hasegawa. "When you are getting a little shorthanded and guys feel like they want to go out there a little longer, it's a great feeling when you can win a game like that."
After entering as a pinch runner for Edgar Martinez in the 11th, Willie Bloomquist grounded a shot off Dickey's ankle to lead off the 13th. The righthander recovered to throw him out at first, but appeared out of sync against the next two batters.
John Olerud flied out to deep center field before Boone registered his 15th career multi-homer game.
"The last couple of games, Boonie's really been staying on the ball well," Melvin said. "I don't know if there is another little guy like that in baseball who has power to the opposite field."
Alex Rodriguez homered for the Rangers, who have yet to win a series this season.
"R.A. gave us a chance," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said. "It was a no-win situation in a lot of ways, but he was outstanding as were most of our pitchers today. We squandered a lot of scoring opportunities that came back to bite us."
Texas went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, but no Rangers reached scoring position in extra innings.
The Rangers were leading, 2-1, in the seventh when they had an opportunity to pad their lead. With two outs and the bases loaded, Mariners reliever Julio Mateo struck out two-time American League Most Valuable Player Juan Gonzalez to end the threat.
Seattle missed a golden opportunity to win in the 11th. C.J. Nitkowski replaced Francisco Cordero on the mound for Texas and Carlos Guillen greeted Nitkowski with a single to center field.
Martinez walked before being replaced by Bloomquist. Olerud sacrificed back to the mound for the first out, moving Guillen and Bloomquist up a base. Boone then was walked intentionally to load the bases.
Making his first appearance in the major leagues since May 7, 2001, Dickey relieved Nitkowski and struck out Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore to end the threat.
Dickey only gave up a hit in 2 1/3 scoreless innings before yielding the game-winning blast.
