SEATTLE – Tommy Hunter would have liked to have seen his rookie season end on a stronger note.

The Rangers' right-hander lost his second consecutive start Saturday night as the Mariners edged the Rangers, 2-1.

Hunter (9-6) was bidding to become the ninth rookie in club history to win 10 games. Instead, he didn't make it out of the fifth as the Mariners scored their only two runs off him and made them stand up.

"There were some things they [hitters] caught on to at the end of year," said Hunter, who posted a 4.10 ERA in his 19 starts. "I need to fix it for next year. I was tipping some pitches."

Dealing with cold weather and not feeling well, Hunter allowed nine hits but only two runs to keep the Rangers in the game.

"He showed he can battle," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He's growing. He's just got to continue on that path."

The Rangers stranded a pair of runners in the fifth, saw the sixth end on a double-play grounder and left the bases loaded in the seventh after scoring their only run of the game. Then there was Chris Davis' liner that Seattle first baseman Mike Carp turned into a double play in the eighth.

"It was just one of those games," Davis said. "We hit the ball well. We put ourselves in situations to score runs. We just didn't get the hits when we needed them."

The seventh inning produced the Rangers' best opportunity.

Elvis Andrus hit a ground-rule double to right to cut the lead to 2-1 and put runners on second and third with no outs. But Taylor Teagarden struck out and Julio Borbon flew out to shallow center. After Shawn Kelley walked Ian Kinsler to load the bases, Michael Young hit a ball to deep right-center that Franklin Gutierrez chased down just shy of the wall.