7/6/23

Mariners 5, Astros 1

(Houston, TX) Momentum is a funny thing in sports. A team that can look lifeless for so long can all of a sudden battle their way right back into the playoff picture all because they got some good wins under their belts and they start to believe. For the Seattle Mariners, for the second straight season they are building momentum heading into the All-Star break. Back-to-back series wins over Tampa Bay and San Francisco set up a big four-game series in Houston with the defending World Series Champions. Seattle took advantage of the banged up Astros in the opener behind a strong outing by All-Star George Kirby and got enough offense thanks in large part to Eugenio Suarez as the M’s took game one by a final of 5-1.

With both Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve out with oblique injuries, the Houston lineup was much less potent. With that being said, they still made George Kirby work as the All-Star had to throw 40 pitches in the first two innings. Kirby was facing the Astros for the first time since the 18-inning game 3 of the 2022 ALDS. In that game, Kirby went seven scoreless innings but never got any run support. He had early run support this time around. In the top of the 2nd after a leadoff walk for Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez put on a show for his family who made the trip to Miami to watch the game. Geno started his big day with a two-run shot into the Crawford Boxes in left field. His 10th home run of the season continued his recent hot streak and gave Seattle a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the 3rd, the long ball helped out the M’s once again. J.P. Crawford continued to chase his first double digit home run season as the shortstop hit a laser over the wall in right field for home run number eight for him this season. The homer put him one shy of his career high and also extended the lead for the Mariners to 3-0.

After throwing 40 pitches in the first couple of innings, Kirby corrected his pitch count by only needing 12 pitches total in the 3rd and 4th innings. It was the defense that really stepped up for Seattle. Early great plays by Jose Caballero, Ty France, and Eugenio Suarez really allowed George Kirby to just pitch to contact. He was able to trust his defense to not only make the routine plays, but the guys in the field were going above and beyond to make difficult plays to take multiple hits away from Astro bats.

Eugenio Suarez led off the top of the 7th in his 5,000th career plate appearance. It would be a good one for Geno as he recorded his 15th double of the year to put a runner in scoring position for Seattle for just the second time in the game to that point. Cal Raleigh then pulled a grounder down the right field line. Suarez scored easily as Cal shut it down after an RBI single and the lead continued to grow to 4-0.

Houston finally got to Kirby in the bottom of the 7th. After Yainer Diaz led off with a single, Kirby retired Chas McCormick and Jeremy Peña for two quick outs. However, Corey Julks seemed to have Kirby’s number on Thursday night. Julks kept a grounder fair down the left field line and into the corner. Diaz scored from first on the 12th double of the season for Julks to end Kirby’s night and get Houston on the board trailing 4-1. George Kirby finished his 6 2/3 inning outing by allowing six hits and just one run on one walk and three strikeouts. Matt Brash would come in and strikeout Bligh Madris to end the inning and keep the lead at 4-1.

Andres Muñoz pitched a scoreless bottom of the 8th and the offense made sure to give closer Paul Sewald the night off. Eugenio Suarez did it again in the top of the 9th with his 14th career multi-homer game with a solo blast to left center. The 11th home run for Geno made it a non-save situation as Seattle’s lead grew to 5-1.

Since Sewald was not needed, Justin Topa pitched the bottom of the 9th and did so very well. Yainer Diaz flew out to Teoscar Hernandez in right for the first out and then some drama ensued. Chas McCormick hit a grounder in the 6 hole, but J.P. Crawford got in on the great defense with a nice backhand and a strong throw to first. Ty France made another nice pick for the out, but many noticed McCormick slapping the glove of Ty France as he ran by. Nobody on the field made a big deal about it, but it became an interesting topic on Thursday night and will likely be addressed on Friday. A quiet flyout by Peña to left was caught by Jarred Kelenic to end the game and give Seattle the game one win, 5-1.

Seattle (43-43) has now won five of their last six and will try to continue that momentum in game two on Friday at 5:10pm. Luis Castillo (5-6, 3.05 ERA) will make his final start of the first half and looks to end it on a high note. La Piedra has had issues with walks recently and on the road is 0-4 with a 4.24 ERA in six starts this season. The offense will face hard throwing rookie Hunter Brown for the Houston Astros (49-39) in game two. Brown (6-5, 3.76 ERA) is coming off his shortest outing of the season when he allowed three runs on 10 hits in just four innings of work in Arlington.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Eugenio Suarez- 3-4, 2B, 2 HRs, 3 RBI, 3 R
• George Kirby (W, 8-7)- 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
• J.P. Crawford- 1-3, HR, RBI, R, BB

Astros

• Corey Julks- 3-3, 2B, RBI
• Yainer Diaz- 2-4, R
• Ronel Blanco (L, 2-1)- 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO

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