It’s not often that two games in Major League Baseball feel like the same game. It’s even rarer when three consecutive contests have weirdly similar styles.

However, for the Texas Rangers, that has to be what their big interdivision set with the Seattle Mariners just felt like.

For the first time since 2012, the Rangers played three straight extra-inning games. For the first time since 2002, they played three consecutive contests that went past nine innings against the same team.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, Sunday’s rubber match did not go their way as Texas fell 6-4 in 12 innings to drop the game and series.

“Three extra-inning games, all three of them could have gone either way,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We had our chances today to get the series, but it was a hard-fought series.

Despite the 6-4 final, the game featured just two combined runs in the first nine innings. The Rangers lone run game in the 2nd inning when Josh Jung laced an RBI single into right field.

Seattle was held to one run thanks in large part to Jack Leiter, who fired one of his better starts in his young MLB career, going five innings, allowing just the one run while striking out a career high seven batters and not walking a single one.

“I think just staying under control, there’s always some little tweaks during the week working with [coaches], whether that be mental, physical, or a mechanical thing. I just think I was on a better line,” Leiter said.

“I did move over on the rubber a little bit towards the first base side, that’s something we’ve been talking about for a while, and it felt like it was time to do that”.

Even without Leiter factoring into the decision, the Rangers still had a solid chance to win the game in extras.

Needing a big hit after Seattle put up a pair in the top of the 10th, Corey Seager blasted a game-tying two-run home run the other way to left-center to keep the Rangers alive.

Seager’s blast was his first career game-tying home run in extra innings, and it marked his third consecutive game with a home run.

The next inning would wind up as the one that led to this one getting away for the Rangers, as after Cole Winn fired a scoreless 11th inning, the Rangers had a golden chance to win it.

After Jonah Heim bunted ghost runner Adolis Garcia over to 3rd base, Seattle intentionally walked Evan Carter to bring Josh Jung to the plate with one out. Jung would strike out, missing a pair of center-cut fastballs, and after an intentional walk to Alejandro Osuna. Kyle Higashioka struck out, ending the Rangers best chance to win it.

“I think you have to say that [the 11th inning got away] Bochy said. “Big strikeout there [Jung, Higashioka]. They fought hard, they really did, tough one for the guys, they did play hard. Like I said, good job of coming back, you get down two runs in extra innings and tie it, again just couldn’t finish it”.