ARLINGTON, Texas (Interstat) — Joc Pederson homered twice and drove in four runs, and the Texas Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners 7-3 on Monday afternoon at Globe Life Park.

Pederson’s two-run homer in the second inning and his three-run blast in the third fueled a three-inning outburst that put Texas ahead for good. The Rangers improved to 54-52, while Seattle fell to 52-55. The win gave Texas a split of the four-game series after losing Sunday’s finale 6-4. Seattle had won the opener of the series Friday, 5-4.

The Mariners struck first in the top of the second inning when Randy Arozarena hit a solo home run, his 13th of the season, tying the game 1-1. That came after Texas had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Pederson’s first homer, a solo shot to center field.

Seattle threatened again in the top of the third, loading the bases with no outs on singles by Colt Emerson and Cole Young. Julio Rodríguez then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Emerson to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. But the rally fizzled when Dominic Canzone grounded into a double play.

The Rangers answered immediately in the bottom of the third. Ezequiel Duran led off with a solo home run to left-center, his 12th of the season, tying the game 2-2. After Brandon Nimmo struck out, Evan Carter doubled sharply to right field. Jake Burger then crushed a two-run homer to left-center, scoring Carter and giving Texas a 4-2 lead.

Texas had already taken the lead for good in the bottom of the second. After Jake Burger popped out, Nicky Lopez singled and advanced to second on a groundout by Josh Smith. Elias Díaz was hit by a pitch, bringing up Pederson, who launched his second homer of the game — a three-run shot to right field — scoring Lopez and Díaz and putting Texas ahead 4-1.

The Rangers added another run in the bottom of the third when Burger’s homer made it 6-2. Texas tacked on a seventh run in the bottom of the fifth. Nimmo led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout by Carter and scored on a single by Burger, his second hit of the game and third RBI.

Texas starter Kumar Rocker earned the win, improving to 4-8. He pitched 6⅔ innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out seven and walking two. Rocker limited Seattle’s offense after the early home run and the third-inning sacrifice fly. He retired 10 of the final 12 batters he faced before being lifted with one out in the seventh.

Jacob Latz followed with one inning of relief, giving up two hits and one earned run while striking out two. Jakob Junis pitched the ninth, allowing one hit and no runs while striking out one.

Seattle starter George Kirby took the loss, falling to 8-9. Kirby allowed seven runs on 10 hits over 4⅔ innings. He struck out four and walked one. Kirby was touched for two home runs — Pederson’s second-inning blast and Duran’s leadoff homer in the third — and could not escape the fifth inning after allowing Burger’s RBI single. Michael Rucker pitched 2⅓ scoreless innings in relief for Seattle, allowing two hits and striking out three.

The Mariners mounted a small rally in the top of the ninth. Josh Naylor led off with a double to left-center. After Luke Raley struck out, Mitch Garver singled to left, moving Naylor to third. J.P. Crawford then hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Naylor and cutting the deficit to 7-3. But Colt Emerson struck out to end the game.

Seattle finished with seven hits. Arozarena, Emerson, Young, Canzone, Rodríguez, Naylor and Garver each had one. Naylor doubled and scored Seattle’s final run. The Mariners left eight runners on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Texas collected 11 hits. Pederson went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. Carter went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Nimmo went 2-for-4 with two doubles. Burger went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. López went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Duran went 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. Smith went 1-for-4.

The game was played in 2 hours, 24 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 27,683.

The Rangers took two of three in the series after losing Friday, winning Saturday 7-1 and Sunday 5-4 before Monday’s decisive victory. Texas now travels to Tampa Bay for a three-game series beginning Tuesday, while Seattle heads to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers.

The most pivotal stretch of the game came in the bottom of the second and third innings, when Texas erased a 2-1 deficit with a six-run outburst. Pederson’s three-run homer in the second inning gave the Rangers the lead for good, and Duran’s leadoff homer in the third tied the game before Burger’s two-run shot extended the advantage to four runs. Seattle never recovered, managing only one more run in the ninth.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Texas 4, Seattle 3. The ELO system gave Texas a 51.20 percent probability to win. Seattle had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1½, and the total score of 10 went under the over-under line of 7½.