Texas rallied with two runs in the bottom of the inning to pull to within 5-4, but the Mariners pulled away with three runs in the ninth against Walter Pennington, who allowed a double, a triple and a hit a batter left with two outs and two on before Rodriguez's two-run single against Gerson Garabito made it 8-4.

The Rangers are on the verge of becoming just the sixth team in the past 25 years to win a World Series then finish below .500 the next season.