SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle pitcher James Paxton had two goals heading into his final start of the season: to go over 200 strikeouts and reach 160 innings pitched.He accomplished both.Paxton quickly checked off the first item http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authenti...-jackson-jersey , striking out leadoff batter Jurickson Profar to become the sixth pitcher in team history to reach 200. In his second start back since missing time after a bout with pneumonia, he also reached his other goal, allowing one run and striking out nine over six innings as the Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 4-1 on Saturday night.“I felt a lot better. Felt like I had my energy back,” Paxton said. “It was great to get 160 innings like I wanted to do. Getting 200 strikeouts was special. I’m looking forward to building off this season and getting where we want to get to next year.”Seattle’s ace becomes the first Mariners pitcher to reach the 200 strikeout mark since Felix Hernandez in 2014. He also finished the season with a career-high 160 1/3 innings pitched. He wasn’t able to equal last season’s career-high 12 wins, as the no-decision left him at 11-6.Mariners closer Edwin Diaz also reached a milestone with his league-leading 57th save, tying Bobby Thigpen’s 1990 mark for second-most all time.“It’s an unbelievable number,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “He’s just a special talent.”Nick Vincent (4-4) pitched a perfect seventh inning to earn the win.Paxton had three strikeouts in the first inning, but also gave up Adrian Beltre’s run-scoring double as the Rangers took a 1-0 lead.Texas starter Adrian Sampson — who grew up in Redmond, just outside of Seattle — nearly stole the spotlight from Paxton, holding Seattle scoreless through four innings. The Mariners tied the game in the fifth on Mitch Haniger’s sacrifice fly, and then roared ahead in the seventh.Dee Gordon hit a two-out triple to give Seattle the lead and end Sampson’s outing. Jean Segura and Robinson Cano each had RBI singles later in the inning to give the Mariners a three-run lead.Sampson (0-3) ended up allowing three runs and seven hits, with four strikeouts and no walks.“It was disappointing not to be able to win that battle right there Derek Holland Jersey ,” said Samson, who estimated he left about 60 tickets for friends and family. “Hats off to Dee right there. Just throwing the same pitch just one too many times, he made me pay for it.”WINNING SEASONSeattle improved to 88-73, equaling the sixth-best win total in team history. “It is a little bit of a disappointment, but at the end of the day, 88, 89 wins, whatever we end up with, it is an accomplishment,” Servais said. “It’s one of the better years in Mariners history. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten over the hump, and that’s getting back to the postseason.”TRAINER’S ROOMRangers: Trainers checked on LF Carlos Tocci in the fifth inning Buster Posey Jersey , after he hit the wall catching Haniger’s sacrifice fly and stayed down on the warning track in pain after the play. Tocci remained in the game. … Interim manager Don Wakamatsu said he thinks Nomar Mazara continues to be hampered by his thumb. Mazara missed nearly a month on the disabled list with a right thumb sprain, and is hitting .220 since returning on Aug. 16. “We think he’s on the right track,” Wakamatsu said. “Obviously the biggest thing over the winter is going to be evaluating that thumb and making sure he’s healthy going into spring training.”Mariners: Gordon returned to the lineup in CF after missing three straight games with a sore toe after fouling a pitch off his foot Tuesday.UP NEXTRangers: RHP Yovani Gallardo (8-7, 6.40 ERA) will make his 18th start. He has taken the loss in each of his last four starts and is 1-6 in his last eight starts.Mariners: LHP Roenis Elias (2-1, 2.93) will close out Seattle’s season with his third start. Elias, who has also made 19 relief appearances, has not gone longer than 3 2/3 innings in any start this season. OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Shin-Soo Choo’s home run on the first pitch of the game ensured the Texas Rangers would avoid a third consecutive shutout.A fourth straight strong outing from Mike Minor was just as big for manager Jeff Banister’s ballclub.Minor pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit ball to win his fourth straight, Joey Gallo backed up Choo with his 33rd homer and the Rangers snapped out of their offensive slump to avoid a series sweep, beating the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Wednesday.“Choo getting off early, getting a run on the board, allowed our offense to kind of settle in http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-panik-jersey ,” Banister said. “It gave our guys some confidence to go out and swing the bat and attack.”Texas was shut out in the first two games of the series and had a 19-inning scoreless streak before Choo’s leadoff homer on the first pitch from Oakland starter Edwin Jackson (4-3) in the first inning.It was Choo’s fourth game-opening home run this season and the 27th of his career.After Choo walked and scored on Beltre’s single in the third, Gallo opened the fourth with a towering drive off Jackson. Gallo’s 74 home runs since the start of last season are the most by a Rangers player over a two-year span since Mark Teixeira had 76 from 2005-06.“We kept fighting,” Gallo said. “That’s baseball. Sometimes you get shut out and that’s the way it goes. Sometimes things don’t go your way.”Adrian Beltre had a pair of RBI singles to help the Rangers end a six-game losing streak to the A’s. Jurickson Profar added two hits. Elvis Andrus singled and scored after going hitless in his previous 12 at-bats.Stephen Piscotty had an RBI double for Oakland, which fell one game behind Houston in the AL West.“You look at the homestand and you have to feel good about winning the series,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve been playing great and bringing the same attitude every day.”The same could be said of Minor, who has been the Rangers’ most effective starter for the past three weeks.Minor (10-6) was crisp while striking out four and walking one in his most effective start in nearly two months. The lefty, who was scratched from his scheduled start last Friday because of back stiffness, allowed only two runners and faced the minimum through six innings. Both runners were erased on double plays.“I feel good about the zeros on the board, but I think there’s room for improvement,” Minor said. “I still didn’t throw good breaking balls, the changeup was just OK and the fastball location was OK.”Cory Gearrin, Alex Claudio Willie McCovey Jersey , Chris Martin and Jose Leclerc combined to retire nine batters and complete the four-hitter.The A’s loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, but Leclerc struck out Nick Martini on a check swing for his sixth save in 10 opportunities.Beltre singled in Andrus in the fifth to make it 4-0 and chase Jackson, who allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings and lost for the first time since July 20. The right-hander had yielded two runs over his previous 24 1/3 innings.“I was off today,” Jackson said. “I was under the ball a lot and that caused the ball to go flat and up in the zone.”STAYING PUTBecause their next series is across the San Francisco Bay against the Giants at AT&T Park, the Rangers won’t have to board a plane and instead will stay in the same hotel where they’ve been since Monday.TRAINER’S ROOMRangers: Profar started again at third base in place of Beltre, who’s had recurring hamstring problems, and made a diving stop on Ramon Laureano’s sharp grounder in the first inning.UP NEXTRangers: RHP Drew Hutchison (2-2, 5.71 ERA) makes his fourth start of the season Friday against the Giants. Hutchison won his previous outing when he allowed two runs in five innings against the Angels.Athletics: RHP Trevor Cahill (5-2, 3.12) pitches the opener of a four-game series in Minnesota on Thursday. Cahill has won four consecutive decisions, his longest winning streak since 2013.