(Sports Network) - Vicente Padilla tries for his third win in as many starts since the All-Star break this evening when Texas plays the third of four contests against the Seattle Mariners at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Padilla won for the fifth time in his last seven starts on Friday in Oakland, as he held the Athletics to five runs and seven hits in six innings to run his record to 12-5 this season to go along with a 4.56 ERA.

The 30-year-old right-hander is 3-5 lifetime against the Mariners with a 4.98 ERA in 12 games, 10 of which have been starts.

Texas won the second game of this set in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, as Ramon Vazquez belted a two-run, game-winning double in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Rangers to an 11-10 win in a wild game that featured Ichiro Suzuki's 3,000th career hit.

Vazquez maintained the center of attention throughout the game with four hits, four RBI and three fielding errors while Marlon Byrd hit a three-run homer to go with three hits and four RBI. Milton Bradley and Gerald Laird added an RBI on three hits each as the Rangers snapped a two-game slide.

C.J. Wilson (1-2) blew his fourth save of the season in the ninth after allowing the M's to take the lead on two runs and two hits but was served the win thanks to Vazquez's heroics.

Jose Lopez and Bryan LaHair hit solo home runs in the seventh as part of a five-run Seattle comeback and finished with three hits and three runs scored apiece.

Suzuki finished the game with two hits, including an RBI single, but his single to start the game was the real story as he notched his 3,000th hit. Suzuki played his first seven years in Japan's Pacific League, where he racked up 1,278 of his 3,001 hits in professional baseball.

J.J. Putz (2-4) took the loss and blew his fifth save of the season, allowing the Rangers to post two runs on three hits while recording only one out in the ninth. Seattle snapped a two-game winning streak following a dismal stretch of seven straight losses.

Starters Luis Mendoza and Carlos Silva started the fireworks by giving up six runs each in the early going. Texas' Mendoza fared somewhat better with nine hits allowed, lasting 5 1/3 innings but the M's Silva was pummeled on seven hits in just 2 1/3 innings.

Both teams had injuries to report as Seattle's Kenji Johjima left in the ninth with a left leg injury after he was plunked by Wilson on the knee while the Rangers' Bradley strained his left quadriceps and exited in the eighth. Both are questionable for tonight's affair.

Heading to the hill for the Mariners will be righty Miguel Batista, who is 4-11 with a 6.67 ERA. Batista did not get a decision on Friday in Toronto, as the Blue Jays reached him for a pair of runs and five hits in 5 1/3 frames.

Texas pounded Batista the last time it faced him, managing six runs in 2 1/3 frames. He is 4-4 in his career against the Rangers with a save and a 5.12 ERA in 13 games (nine starts).

Texas has won seven of its 12 matchups with the Mariners this season.