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Astros one-hit Mariners, lose 4-2

Certainly one of the weirdest headlines you will ever read, but that's what makes baseball so great. The Astros get 6.1 hitless innings from Erik Bedard and strike out 15 Mariners as a team. Houston just continues to find ways to lose ballgames; this one may be the oddest, though.

Erik Bedard went 6.1 innings without allowing a hit, but was still saddled with the loss.
Erik Bedard went 6.1 innings without allowing a hit, but was still saddled with the loss.
USA TODAY Sports

One of the reasons baseball is such a great game is that even when you think you've seen it all, something happens that absolutely boggles your mind. The Astros allowed only one hit that turned into four runs for the Mariners and led to another loss for Houston. It was only right that the 2013 Astros were involved in something like this.

Erik Bedard was dealing on Saturday night as he struck out 10 batters and allowed no hits in 6.1 innings. But in the sixth inning, a lot went wrong despite no base knocks. The lefty walked back-to-back batters with one out, then catcher Jason Castro allowed a passed ball to put runners on second and third. Bedard induced a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nick Franklin to cut the Houston lead to 2-1. With Raul Ibanez batting, Bedard again was victimized by his catcher as Castro let one get by him and to the backstop - allowing the tying run to score.

Bedard went back out for the seventh, but after walking Justin Smoak with one out - Bedard's fifth walk of the night - Astros manager Bo Porter decided to yank his starter despite the possible no-hitter. Bedard tied a season-high with 109 pitches on Saturday after throwing the same number last Sunday against Tampa Bay. As luck would have it for the 'Stros, Jose Cisnero took over and walked a batter before allowing a 435-foot two-run double on Tal's Hill in center field to give Seattle a 4-2 lead. Still, Bedard was showing obvious signs that he had nothing left in the tank. It was a very sensible decision to remove him, despite having the no-hitter in tact.

Bedard's final pitching line: 6.1 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 10 SO

Bedard also seemed pretty willing for his night to be over:

And here are some of the other facts that baseball people have dug up about tonight's game.

As for Houston's bats, the clutch hitting continues to elude them as a team. The Astros had seven hits, but finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Saturday. There shouldn't have been much expected with Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma on the hill, but the Astros had their chances. Matt Dominguez was the only Houston player with multiple hits as he was 2-for-3 with a walk in the ninth inning, which means Matty D has walked in back-to-back games - pushing his season total to 14. Progress!

Chris Carter, Jake Elmore and Justin Maxwell all contributed doubles to the effort while Jose Altuve had a sacrifice fly and Jason Castro recorded the always pretty RBI infield single for Houston's two runs in the fifth inning.

Bo Porter summed tonight's affair up pretty well.

The Astros get some more good fortune of trying to avoid a sweep by facing King Felix Hernandez on Sunday afternoon. Jordan Lyles will throw for Houston.