Mitch Garver stood at home plate about 15 minutes before Tuesday's game and was handed a small box by Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. Inside was the World Series ring Garver earned while a member of the Rangers last season.
Garver then returned to the visiting dugout before his new team, the Seattle Mariners, opened a three-game series against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas.
Behind home runs from Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez and 6 2/3 scoreless innings by Logan Gilbert, the Mariners won 4-0 to move past Texas and into first place in the American League West. The series continues Wednesday night.
Garver said he had been looking forward to the ring ceremony for days.
"I didn't have a chance to really celebrate a World Series because when the parade was over, I was a free agent and I was looking for a job," Garver said. "We ended up signing with Seattle, and we bought a house, we had a baby and like all these things happened so quickly. And now I have a chance to get the ring and it'll be a good opportunity to relive what we were able to accomplish, but also move on.
"For me, I'm going to use this ring ceremony as a means to not turn the page, but that it's over, the celebration is over."
As for what he'll remember about the Rangers' championship run?
"I had the opportunity to play in some of the biggest games in my life along with some really great teammates and being able to play under pressure in those situations and perform and just win a bunch of games in those situations, it gives you a different perspective about early season games and midseason games and what pressure really feels like," Garver said. "I hope to be able to use that later in the year as we make a playoff run and get into the postseason and have that experience with this team."
After a sluggish start, the Mariners have won six of their past seven games to take a half-game lead on Texas in the division.
"That's a typical Mariners game right there, a couple homers and great pitching," Seattle manager Scott Servais said after Tuesday's win. "And you look up and we're on the right side of it."
Raleigh homered for the fourth time in the past five games to give him a team-leading six this season, with Rodriguez going deep for the first time.
Rodriguez's homer was a two-run shot into the second deck in left field measured at 435 feet.
"Definitely felt good," Rodriguez said. "I've been working every single day to be able to produce at the level I know I can produce. ... I feel more like myself today."
The Rangers managed just three hits, two by Nathaniel Lowe, against four Seattle pitchers.
"We feel like we're going out there every night to win the ball game," said Bochy, whose team won all six games against Seattle at home last season. "At the same time, there's some guys not quite locked in."
The Rangers will face another tough assignment Wednesday against Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller (3-1, 1.85 ERA), who has allowed just one earned run over his past three starts. Miller is 0-2 with a 17.55 ERA in two previous starts against Texas, however.
The Rangers are set to start right-hander Jon Gray (0-1, 3.15). Gray is 3-2 with a 3.89 ERA in seven career starts against Seattle.
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