Astros Pound Mariners, Take Series, winning 11-4

The Astros bats are back. Today they pounded the Mariners for 11 runs, 15 hits, with four doubles and two home runs. And the hits were timely, 7 for 18 with runners in scoring position.

This on top of 15 hits on Tuesday and 10 hits on Monday.

In a pattern that held for all three games in this series, the Astros took an early lead, expanded it into a big lead, followed by a Mariner attempt to get back in the game.

Today, the Mariners’ attempt fell very short.

The Astros waited until the second inning to score in this game. Carlos Correa got on base with a single and scored on a Myles Straw fielder’s choice.

The Astros would continue to score one run per inning until the fifth on a Yuli Gurriel double in the third, an Aledmys Diaz single in the fourth, and a Yuli Gurriel homer in the fifth.

The Astros broke it open in the sixth with four more runs, starting with a Jose Altuve RBI single, an RBi double by Diaz, scoring Altuve, a Gurriel RBI single, and a Carlos Correa RBI double.

So with an 8-0 lead the Astros had this game in the bag, right?

The Mariners lost two out of three in this series, but they never gave up despite falling way behind in all three games. This game was no exception, as the M’s came back with three runs in the sixth, one from yet another Kyle Seager homer, his third of the series, and two runs from an Abraham Toro home run. Toro also had three homers in this series, one of them while playing for the Astros.

Toro’s homer knocked winning pitcher Jake Odorizzi out of the game. He left after 5.1 IP, allowing three runs, but none until the two jacks in the sixth.

The Astros added another run in the seventh when Myles Straw, who led off with a single, scored later on a Diaz fielder’s choice ground out.

In the bottom of the inning the Mariners looked like they were going to mount yet another miracle comeback, as pitcher Cristian Javier struggled to hit the strike zone or miss bats. With two outs and the bases loaded Javier walked weak-hitting Jarred Kelenic, forcing in a run, and forcing manager Dusty Baker to bring Bryan Abreu in to finish the inning.

Mariners batter Ton Murphy took Abreu to a full count. Murphy, obviously waiting for a 98 MPH fastball, instead watched a perfect slider drop right on the high inside corner to strike out and end another Mariners threat.

A Kyle Tucker homer, his 20th, would add another two to the Astros ledger. There was no way the Mariners were coming back in this game.

Abreu worked around two singles to hold the Mariners in the eighth, and Brandon Bielak closed out the M’s to secure the Astros win and the series win.

Gurriel and Correa led the way offensively for the Astros, each with three hits, but Gurriel and Diaz accounted for the most runs, each with three RBI.

Box score and videos HERE.