"Mitch Moreland might have a nice dinner headed his way sometime soon, perhaps this weekend at the Capital Grille a block away from the team hotel in Baltimore.

The man picking up the check would be Adrian Beltre, who made a terrific eighth-inning stab of a Milton Bradley grounder Wednesday afternoon but needed an equally terrific pick at first base by Moreland for the out.

Beltre is making 35 times what Moreland will collect in 2011, so it's the least he can do.

They made for a winning combination at Rangers Ballpark, with Beltre flashing his trademark leather several times and Moreland delivering a clutch hit against Felix Hernandez as the Rangers won again, 7-3 over Seattle, and improved to 6-0 for the third time in club history.

"I'm looking forward to that dinner," Moreland said. "We'll see what happens."

Who knows what would have happened had Bradley's ball made it into the left-field corner for an inning-opening double? At the very least, the Rangers' road to a perfect start would have been a lot bumpier.

Moreland had just given the Rangers a 4-3 lead with a double off Hernandez (1-1) to score David Murphy, who had singled to start the inning and stolen second base with one out.

Seattle had the middle of its lineup up in the eighth. Bradley, who entered hitting .350 and had doubled in the sixth, started with a sharp grounder down the line.

Beltre, though, back-handed the ball and threw quickly to first, where Moreland stretched, stabbed and stayed on the bag for the first out in what became a four-pitch inning for Arthur Rhodes."