Ronel Blanco

The 30-year-old right-hander punched out five batters in the contest while issuing one base on balls. Dylan Moore smacked a two-run triple off of him in the second inning, then Jorge Polanco slugged a solo homer in the fourth. Blanco then put two men on before exiting in the sixth inning, and both runners ultimately came around to score. Blanco piled up 19 swings and misses on 100 pitches in the ballgame -- 10 of those on his slider -- while posting a CSW of 27 percent. Blanco will look to bounce back as he carries a 2.75 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and a 105/43 K/BB ratio (114 2/3 innings) into a tough matchup against the Dodgers on Saturday.

Polanco smacked a 394-foot (107.1-mph EV) solo shot off of Ronel Blanco in the home half of the fourth inning that extended the Mariners' advantage to 3-1. He also singled in the sixth inning and rode home on Luke Raley's three-run blast. It's been a rough season overall for the 31-year-old second baseman -- hitting just .205/.291/.304 with six homers and 19 RBI.

It appeared almost certain that Brown would be demoted after a brutal nine-start stretch to open the year, but he managed to turn things around to finish the first half with an impressive 2.36 ERA over his final 10 outings since May 22. It'll be Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco to round out the first series of the second half for Houston on the road at T-Mobile Park.

Blanco made precisely one mistake in this game: a 3-0 fastball to Josh Smith that got a little bit too much plate and left the yard. Otherwise, the Rangers had just one more hit and zero hard hit balls off Blanco. His slider forced an astounding 12 swings-and-misses as his primary pitch and he heads into the All-Star break with 11 quality starts, a 2.96 ERA, and 0.97 WHIP.

Smith was the Rangers' offense in this one. His first inning home run produced their only runs, only hard-hit ball, and one of just two hits in total off Astros' starter Ronel Blanco. Then his eighth inning long ball gave Texas their only insurance. Smith has been one of the surprise performers of the first half with 10 homers, five stolen bases, and an .861 OPS.