Mariners 8, Astros 7: Mariners not phased by McHugh's magic

Collin McHugh has been one of the best stories in baseball this season. He comes to the Astros after stents with the Mets and Rockies and is called up to pitch only after two starters go down in same week. McHugh pitches like an ace in his first two starts, giving up one run over 15.1 innings and striking out 19. Today we learned he was human, and that's okay. It's only the law of averages.

The Mariners put up six runs (five earned) on McHugh before he exited the game after the fourth inning. The biggest blow come in the third inning, as the M's collected four runs on five hits in the inning. This included three extra-base hits by John Buck, Willie Bloomquist, and Robinson Cano. A second John Buck double lead to the final run allowed by the Astros starter in the fourth inning.

Jerome Williams came in for tandem/long relief duty, he gave up two runs on three hits. Williams walked in a run in his first inning of work, and Stefen Romero was driven in by John Buck after leading off the eighth with a double.

Darin Downs, freshly called up from Oklahoma City, kept Seattle scoreless after allowing a leadoff single to Robinson Cano in the ninth.

The Astros offense once again showed the life we have been waiting for all season in today's game, now if only we could sync that up with some great pitching efforts that would be perfect. Alex Presley, Chris Carter, Matt Dominguez, and Jose Altuve each had a double in tonight's game. Jonathan Villar had his second straight game with a home run.

Bo Porter played his cards nicely in the eighth, switching from Jesus Guzman to Marc Krauss after a Mariners pitching change. Krauss drove in Castro and Dominguez, who were in scoring positions after a Matty-D ground-rule double. Jason Castro drove in Jose Altuve in the ninth to bring the game with in one , but it was not enough as Dominguez struck out to end the game.