Mariners Fail To Complete Sweep Of Astros With 11-3 Loss In Finale
By Jeffrey Nooney, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Our Seattle Mariners came into Sunday’s game against the Houston Astros as one of the hottest teams in all of baseball. After being swept in three games against the New York Yankees in the first series of their last road trip before the All-Star break, the Mariners went on to sweep the team with the best record in all of baseball, the Detroit Tigers, in Detroit. Seattle continued the hot streak after the All-Star break by winning the first two games in this series against the American League West leading Astros, before being blown out in the series finale today by a final score of 11-3.
The Astros have dealt with more than their fair share of injuries this season, which includes All-Star third baseman Isaac Parades leaving Saturday night’s game with a hamstring injury as he was immediately placed on the 10-day injured list. The injury to Parades forces him to join the likes of Yordan Álvarez, Jeremy Pena and 14 other Astros on the injured list. That didn’t matter on Sunday, as the depleted Astros lineup looked like the lineups that Mariners fans have long dreaded facing.
The scoring got started in the bottom of the third inning when Seattle second baseman Jorge Polanco delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded, giving the Mariners an early 2-0 lead. Seattle added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Julio Rodríguez drove in Mitch Garver from second base with a single to center field, pushing the Mariners lead up to 3-0. That was it for the Seattle offense, as they would not score another run in this ballgame.
In the top of the fifth inning, Astros third baseman Shea Whitcomb would reach on a rare fielding error from Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, scoring the Astros first run of the game. A tough catch to make, running backward and over the shoulder, it’s a catch that Seattle fans have grown somewhat accustomed to the gold glove shortstop making and it unfortunately started the comeback effort for Houston. Rookie outfielder Cam Smith then doubled to deep right field, scoring two more for the Astros, tying the game at three runs each. In the top of the sixth inning, solo home runs from Christian Walker and Taylor Trammell (yes, former Mariner Taylor Trammell) gave the Astros a 5-3 lead. The Astros went on to score four more runs in the top of the seventh inning off Mariners reliever Casey Legumina. Victor Caratini hit an RBI single, Yanier Diaz had a sacrifice fly and old friend Taylor Trammell smacked a two-run double. The Astros tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth from Victor Caratini’s two-run double, completing the lopsided 11-3 victory for Houston to ensure that they were not swept by a Mariners team looking to make up lost ground in the quest for an AL West title.
“Tough one today. I thought, offensively, we did a really good job against (Hunter) Brown and created a lot of traffic early, took advantage of a couple of those situations and got that early lead. But they did the same to us, got some traffic there early and were able to take advantage of it.”
Even with the lopsided score, there are some positive takeaways from today’s game. All-Star pitcher and Cy Young Award contender Hunter Brown could not figure out this Mariners lineup. Brown was only able to make it through four innings, giving up three runs (all earned) on six hits, while walking two and striking out seven. This marks yet another top tier pitcher that the Mariners have beat up this season. The Mariners have handed Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal two of his three losses this season, beat up on the Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and knocked around Hunter Brown today. While the Seattle lineup hasn’t consistently been great at producing, they have been able to drive up the pitch count of opposing pitchers and have shown the tendency to take down some of the best pitchers in all of baseball this season, so there’s reason for hope with both of those notes.
Mariners starter Bryan Woo, fresh off of his first All-Star game appearance, found success early against this Astros lineup but struggled at the end of his outing as he couldn’t finish out strong. Woo cruised through the first four innings, allowing just two hits through the first four frames. In the top of the fifth inning, Woo walked the first batter and ended up giving up three runs (two earned). Woo came out in the sixth inning and gave up the two solo home runs, but finished the sixth inning, marking the 19th time this season that Bryan Woo has pitched a full six or more innings in a start.
“Pretty frustrating. That can’t happen, a kind of game like that. We get the first two games and get a lead, I just have to do a better job.”
The Mariners remain just four games behind the Astros in the American League West division, and now have a record of 53-46. They also hold the second Wild Card spot in the American League, sitting 1.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays who are the first team out as of writing this.
Quick Mariners notes, from Mariners PR
The Seattle Mariners fell 11-3 to the Houston Astros in the series finale…however they clinched the series with back-to-back wins on Friday and Saturday.
The Mariners 5-game winning streak (7/11-7/20) was snapped with the loss…the 11 unanswered runs are the most they have given up this season.
Jorge Polanco hit a bases-loaded 2-RBI double, scoring Miles Mastrobouni and Julio Rodríguez for the first runs of the game.
Polanco is batting .328 (20x61) with 3 homers and 31 RBI with runners in scoring position this season, including .400 (2x5) with 3 RBI in bases-loaded opportunities.
Mitch Garver went 1-for-3 and is batting .294 (5x17) with 2 home runs and 2 RBI in the last 4 games (7/11-c).
Miles Mastrobouni went 2-for-3 with a run, walk and stole his 5th bag of the season…it marked his 9th multi-hit game this season.
J.P. Crawford went 2-for-5 with a double and is batting .323 (23x71) with 8 runs scored, 5 doubles, 1 homer, 8 RBI, and 6 walks across the last 18 games (6/29-c), hitting safely in 17 of those last 18 games.
is still batting .318 (21x66) with 8 runs, 4 doubles 1 home run, 8 RBI and 6 walks since the start of his hitting streak.
Julio Rodríguez went 2-for-5 with 2 stolen bases for a total of 19 stolen bases this season.
Since the start of the series in Detroit (7/11-c), he is batting .375 (9x24) with 10 runs scored, 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 6 RBI, 5 walks and 2 stolen bases.
Today marked just the second time this season he has recorded 2+ stolen bases in a game (also: 3/29 vs. ATH) and the 12th time he has done so in his career.
Starter Bryan Woo tossed 6.0 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits (2 HR) with 1 walk to 6 strikeouts…he threw 91 pitches (65 strikes) in his 19th start of the season.
He has now tossed 6.0+ innings in each of his 19 consecutive starts this season, which is the 2nd-longest streak in Mariners history, trailing Randy Johnson’s 20-game stretch from April 6-July 18,1993.
He is the first pitcher to toss 6.0+ innings in their first 19 starts of a season since Clayton Kershaw did so in 23 consecutive starts from April 15-August 25,2019.
He has allowed 2-or-fewer walks in each of his 19 outings this season, allowing 1-or-fewer in 12 of those games.
Reliever Casey Legumina entered in the 7th inning, allowing 4 earned runs on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter...it marked just the second time he has hit a batter this season (also: 5/4 at TEX).
Juan Burgos entered for 2.0 innings of relief, allowing 2 earned runs on 4 hits with 2 strikeouts…all 3 of his earned runs this season have been in appearances at home…his 2.0 innings pitched tie his career-high (also: 7/1 vs. KC).
What’s next?
Following this frustrating loss in the series finale to the Houston Astros, having already clinched the series win in game two, our Seattle Mariners return to action tomorrow when they host the Milwaukee Brewers for a three game series that will last from Monday through Wednesday before the team heads out on their final road trip prior to the MLB trade deadline. The Brewers come into the series as the hottest team in a of baseball, winners of ten-straight games including a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers down in California over the weekend. Here are the pitching matchups for the upcoming series:
Monday, July 21st: Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 2.61 ERA) versus George Kirby (4-4, 4.50 ERA)
Tuesday, July 22nd: Jacob Jacob Misiorowski (4-1, 2.81 ERA) versus Logan Gilbert (2-3, 3.39 ERA)
Wednesday, July 23rd: Quinn Priester (8-2, 3.33 ERA) versus Luis Castillo (7-5, 3.21 ERA)
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