SEATTLE (AP) — Nathaniel Lowe drove in the go-ahead run for Texas with an infield single during a three-run eighth inning and hit a homer in the seventh, as the Rangers erased a three-run deficit for a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night in top prospect Kumar Rocker’s major league debut.
After Lowe made it a 4-2 game with his seventh-inning homer, Marcus Semien brought Texas within one with a solo homer off Collin Snider (3-3) in the eighth.
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Texas Rangers starting pitcher Kumar Rocker, center, greets his father and Tennessee Titans defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, left, and mother Lalitha Rocker, right, after his major league debut in a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Tayler Saucedo reacts to giving the Texas Rangers the lead on an RBI single by Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodríguez strikes out to end the game in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, left, greets relief pitcher Kirby Yates, right, after Yates earned the save in a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers relief pitcher Kirby Yates throws against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien, left, celebrates a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners with teammates, including Josh Smith, right, after a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez catches the double hit by Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford after it bounces in front of him during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers' Adolis García hits into a groundout to score Josh Smith against the Seattle Mariners during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe jogs the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe follows through on an RBI single to score Wyatt Langford as Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh looks on during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Josh Smith reached on an error, Wyatt Langford doubled, and Adolis García drove in Smith on a groundout to shortstop to tie the game at 4-4.
Lowe then hit an infield single to second base to score Langford from third.
Rocker struck out seven while allowing one run on three hits over four innings in his first big league start. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer from Justin Turner in the fourth.
Rocker allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the first inning, but retired the next six batters. He walked two in the third, but kept Seattle off the board until Turner's shot.
“I feel like the whole game I was trying to find my rhythm, and that’s just, that’s part of the moment, that’s part of it being a new experience,” Rocker said. “And can’t really get frustrated from it, but learn from it."
Rocker threw 74 pitches and induced 17 swings and misses from Mariners hitters, thanks in part to his slider.
“Great job, great job,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “Poise, presence, he just looked good out there, didn’t he? I mean, first inning couldn’t have gotten off to a tougher start for him, but he kept his composure, he pitched out of a tough jam and just solid four innings there."
Josh Jung gave Texas the early lead with a solo homer in the second, but the Rangers couldn’t score again off Bryce Miller, who allowed one run on five hits over six innings, with seven strikeouts.
“We let Miller get into rhythm,” Lowe said. “Like any major league starter, you get in rhythm and you’re in control, it’s really tough to score. So I felt like we did a good job kind of slowing it down a little bit, getting some good pitches to hit, and then we touched the plate when we needed to.”
Randy Arozarena drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the fifth inning to give the Mariners a two-run lead. Cal Raleigh scored on a wild pitch later in the inning to make it 4-1.
Matt Festa (4-1) got the win with a scoreless seventh.
Kirby Yates pitched the ninth inning for his 30th save.
The loss drops the Mariners to 4 1/2 games behind Houston in the AL West standings, and 4 1/2 games back of Minnesota for the third AL wild card.
“Tough eighth inning,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “A couple of ground balls, just a well-placed chopper and a ball off the glove, and it's a tough way to take it."
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers SS Corey Seager will undergo season-ending sports hernia surgery, Rangers GM Chris Young announced on Thursday.
ROSTER MOVE
To make space for Rocker on the roster, RHP Chase Anderson was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom will make his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2023 on Friday. The Mariners have not announced their starter.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Kumar Rocker, center, greets his father and Tennessee Titans defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, left, and mother Lalitha Rocker, right, after his major league debut in a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Tayler Saucedo reacts to giving the Texas Rangers the lead on an RBI single by Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodríguez strikes out to end the game in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, left, greets relief pitcher Kirby Yates, right, after Yates earned the save in a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers relief pitcher Kirby Yates throws against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien, left, celebrates a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners with teammates, including Josh Smith, right, after a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez catches the double hit by Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford after it bounces in front of him during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers' Adolis García hits into a groundout to score Josh Smith against the Seattle Mariners during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe jogs the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe follows through on an RBI single to score Wyatt Langford as Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh looks on during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — A 9-year-old was among five people killed when a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg, an official said Saturday, as people mourned the victims and their shaken sense of security.
City official Ronni Krug said he didn’t have further information on the adults who were killed on Friday night. He said 200 people were injured, of whom 41 in serious or very serious condition.
Prosecutor Horst Nopens said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. He is currently being questioned. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg, officials said.
“There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”
Neurosurgeon Mahmoud Elenbaby said some 80 patients were brought to Magdeburg’s university hospital on Friday night.
“We managed to stabilize most of them, but many are still in intensive care, and some are also in critical condition,” Elenbaby told The Associated Press as he dashed into the hospital cafeteria to buy himself a cola.
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God's mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
There were still no answers Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city.
Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the “Islamism of Europe.”
Nopens, the prosecutor, said the motive may have been “dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany” but investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of what was behind the attack.
“He has at least talked about the motive,” Nopens said. “And we have to clear up how much of that is true.”
Investigators have to analyze computers, mobile devices and other evidence, “and at the end of the day we will know, or at least hope to know, what drove him to this act.”
“We have talked about an attack,” he said. “Whether it was a terror attack, we don’t know yet.”
The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them.
Germany has suffered a string of extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Those attacks have led cities to beef up security at Christmas markets and other events.
On Friday the suspect used a special escape and rescue route to enter the market, according to Tom-Oliver Langhans, director of the Magdeburg police.
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser traveled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening. Faeser ordered flags lowered to half-staff at federal buildings across the country.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers swarmed around the suspect and took him into custody.
Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is located in a mall across from the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and thought at first they were fireworks. She then saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
Shaking as she described the horror of what she witnessed, she recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The number of injured people was overwhelming.
“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran back home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold," she said.
The market itself was still cordoned off Saturday with red-and-white tape and police vans every 50 meters (yards). Police with machine pistols guarded every entry to the market. Some thermal security blankets still lay on the street.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Moulson reported from Berlin and Gera from Warsaw, Poland.
Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Flowers and candles are placed outside St. John's Church as a memorial site near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute for deaths with flowers outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
A blanket lies on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre, speaks at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute and cry for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
A policeman, right, stands on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Two firefighters walk through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police officers and police emergency vehicles are seen at the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A barrier tape and police vehicles are seen in front of the entrance to the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People mourn in front of St. John's Church for the victims of Friday's attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Police tape cordons-off a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer stands guard at at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police officers patrol a cordoned-off area at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
