SEATTLE -- After a career-worst start his last time out, Chris Flexen responded with his career-best. The Mariners right-hander twirled seven shutout innings and only allowed four of the 24 batters he faced to reach in a 5-0 win over the Rangers on Thursday night at T-Mobile Park.

Flexen was aided by towering, back-to-back homers -- the first this season for Seattle -- in the third inning from Tom Murphy and Jacob Nottingham, who provided encouraging signs for the bottom half of the lineup, which has struggled for much of the season.

? Box score

The biggest difference between Flexen on Thursday and his last time out in San Diego last weekend, when he gave up eight runs and failed to get out of the second inning? Regaining command of his cutter. The Rangers went 2-for-10 against the pitch, and it accounted for three of his six strikeouts. He also located his fastball superbly at the top of the zone and had his changeup and curve working, too. With all four of his pitches feeding off each other, Flexen was able to tie a career high by going seven innings.

¡°The movement profile is really unique because of his arm delivery,¡± Murphy said of Flexen¡¯s cutter. ¡°He's got a super high release angle, and so when the pitch is coming in to a righty or whatever, it looks like it's going just straight down. And it's not your traditional cutter -- where a lot of guys have a very lateral-movement-type cutter. This one, that has just a special feel to it. And when he's able to command it the way he did today, he's going to have good results.¡±

Also notable: Flexen induced weak contact, generating called strikes or whiffs on 31 percent of his 87 pitches on Thursday, his most all season. Flexen¡¯s length also spelled Seattle¡¯s relievers, which was particularly significant after the club turned to a bullpen game in Oakland the day prior. Rafael Montero and Keynan Middleton locked down the final two innings.

¡°Nothing changed, I still went through the same routine that I normally do,¡± Flexen said. ¡°And the physical stuff is still there. It was just trying to get back on track and mentally stay locked in and not let that one affect you.¡±

If Flexen had the most promising bounceback of any Mariner on Thursday, then Murphy was a close second. Seattle¡¯s backstop also had a seventh-inning single and walked in the fifth, reaching base every time he went to the plate. That¡¯s huge for the 30-year-old, who entered the day hitting .138/.194/.322 and had essentially been limited to starting exclusively against lefties.

Mariners manager Scott Servais said that Murphy has overhauled his approach in recent days, focusing more on maintaining his positive attitude rather than peering at his numbers on the Jumbotron.

¡°I¡¯ve built upon a pretty good couple of days here in terms of my attitude, and it¡¯s showing up every day with a kind of a global picture in mind, not necessarily my batting average,¡± Murphy said. ¡°And when I do that, I'm a much more enjoyable person, and we all are when we show up with a good attitude every day. And that's what's important for this team, especially as catcher.¡±

Four of Seattle¡¯s five runs on Thursday came from the Nos. 7-9 hitters -- Murphy, Nottingham and Jack Mayfield. The latter crushed a seventh-inning double with the bases loaded that drove in two. Mayfield marveled at the eruption of the crowd in what was his first hit at T-Mobile Park as a Mariner.

¡°I got goosebumps,¡± Mayfield said. ¡°I just told myself, ¡®Enjoy this moment. This is so awesome.¡¯ They definitely played a big part in it.¡±

Mitch Haniger also had an RBI single that inning, stealing back a run from the first, when he was robbed of his would-be 14th homer by a stellar snag from Rangers center fielder Adolis Garc¨ªa, who has punished the Mariners with his bat -- and now his glove -- all season.

Thanks to those contributions, the Mariners advanced to 17-3 this season when out-hitting their opponent.

¡°We've talked about it the first six, seven weeks of the season, having the bottom of the lineup -- those guys have got to create traffic, create some opportunities for us -- and those guys carried us tonight,¡± Servais said.

Jarred Kelenic¡¯s frustration at the plate continued with an 0-for-4 night, including two tough strikeouts. Kelenic, who was on the field with hitting coach Tim Laker five hours before the first pitch, working on his opposite-field approach, entered the day batting .157. But his expected batting average -- based on his quality of contact -- was .248. That 91-point difference was tied for the largest in MLB among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances.

After a season-worst six-game losing streak, the Mariners (24-27) have now won three of their past four.