ARLINGTON, Texas — Deep into the left-field corner, Randy Arozarena chased down a Marcus Semien drive for an unlikely game-saving catch — nay, a season-saving catch — to strand the bases loaded in the sixth inning.

Arozarena made the catch and then jumped against the wall to stop his momentum — keeping the Mariners’ positive momentum intact in a 8-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night before a sold-out crowd of 39,929 at Globe Life Field.

Julio Rodriguez homered on the first pitch of the game — his third in his first six at-bats of this series — and finished 4 for 6 with four RBI.

In the first two games of this series, Rodriguez is 7 for 11 with three homers and nine RBI, helping the Mariners (80-75) win their third straight game and inch within 1 1/2 games of the Minnesota Twins the AL wild-card chase.

For the Mariners to navigate their way into the playoffs, it’ll take a little bit of everything.

Their starting pitching has been consistently dominant, and they got another strong performance from Emerson Hancock on Saturday in his second fill-in start for the injured Luis Castillo.

Their offense has turned a corner over the past few weeks, and they racked up 13 more hits in this one.

The bullpen, up and down for much of the season, had a couple hiccups in the sixth inning Saturday, but there have generally been encouraging signs of late.

And their defense — well, if the Mariners somehow, someway manage to sneak into the playoffs, their defense will have played a significant part.

Particularly Saturday.

Arozarena made two artful running catches on the warning track earlier in the game, and his sixth-inning grab in the corner has to go down as his most meaningful contribution with the Mariners since his trade-deadline acquisition from Tampa Bay.

Back in the dugout, Arozarena got a playful chest bump from Perry Hill, the Mariners’ 72-year-old infield coach and defensive guru.

A moment to remember, all the way around.

In the seventh inning, Dylan Moore made a diving catch near the first-base line on a line drive off the bat of Nathaniel Lowe. With two runners on base, that saved at least one run, preserving the Mariners’ 5-4 lead.

Tayler Saucedo made a nice play on a comeback from the next batter, Ezequiel Duran, to end the threat.

In the eighth, Austin Voth struck out Josh Smith swinging over a curveball to end the inning, stranding runners at second and third. Voth was as animated as he’s been all season after that strikeout.

In the top of the ninth, the Mariners scored three insurance runs.

The first came in the most spectacularly wild way after Jorge Polanco doubled with one out (his third hit of the night).

Victor Robles, bothered by a sore right finger, entered as a pinch runner. After narrowly avoiding being picked off, Robles stole third — and immediately rounded third and took off for home on a wild pitch, scoring (just barely) standing up to make it 6-4.

With two outs, Rodriguez scalded a line drive to left field, driving in two more runs to make it 8-4.

Those ninth-inning insurance run allowed the Mariners to save closer Andres Muñoz and turn instead to Eduard Bazardo to finish things off.

Hancock allowed five hits and two runs over five innings, with no walks and three strikeouts. Smith hit a two-out, two-run homer in the third inning to tie the score at 2-2.

Rodriguez drove in Moore from second to make it 3-2.

Cal Raleigh followed with an RBI single through the right side, and Arozarena’s sharp single to left make it 5-2.

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