Chris Young, Mariners Miss Opportunity To Take Wild Card, Fall To Astros

Before the first pitch of Saturday’s game between the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros, the other games involving teams chasing the AL wild-card spots had already gone final.

The Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics both lost, giving Seattle the opportunity – with a win – to pass the Royals and tie the A’s for the first wild-card spot.

Someone forgot to tell Chris Young that this game was important. Someone forget to tell the Astros that they are out of the race.

Young allowed two home runs and four total runs in the first inning and didn’t make it out of the 4th before allowing seven total runs as the Astros cruised to a 10-1 win over the Mariners.

In the game, Jose Altuve tied Rod Carew for the most hits by a second baseman in the past 80 years with his 218th hit of the season.

But the story was Young and his epic collapse. Young gave up two, two-run homers to Chris Carter and Alex Presley in the first. Another run scored in the 2nd on an Altuve RBI single.

Matt Dominguez and Carlos Corporan went yard back-to-back off Young in the 4th before Lloyd McClendon finally came with the hook.

The Astros got three more on one swing of Jake Marisnick‘s bat in the 7th off Erasmo Ramirez.

The Mariners lone run came in the 3rd, an RBI single by Robinson Cano.

Hisashi Iwakuma takes the mound for Seattle in the finale as the M’s hope to still take the series and once again, hope that Detroit and Philadelphia can take down Kansas City and Philadelphia respectively.

BOX SCORE

Batting

Seattle

Batting

RBI – R Cano (79)

2-out RBI – R Cano

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – K Seager 3, M Zunino 1

GIDP – A Jackson, R Cano, M Zunino

Team LOB – 7

Fielding

DP – 1 (C Taylor-R Cano-K Morales)

Houston

Batting

2B – D Fowler (21, C Young); G Petit (7, C Young)

HR – C Carter (37, 1st inning off C Young 1 on, 1 Out), A Presley (6, 1st inning off C Young 1 on, 1 Out), J Marisnick (2, 7th inning off E Ramirez 2 on, 2 Out), M Dominguez (16, 4th inning off C Young 0 on, 0 Out), C Corporan (6, 4th inning off C Young 0 on, 0 Out)

RBI – J Altuve (55), C Carter 2 (87), A Presley 2 (17), J Marisnick 3 (16), M Dominguez (54), C Corporan (19)

2-out RBI – J Altuve, J Marisnick 3

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – C Carter 1

GIDP – C Carter

Team LOB – 3

Running

SB – R Grossman (8, 2nd base off C Young/M Zunino)

CS – R Grossman (3, 2nd base by C Young/M Zunino)

Fielding

E – M Dominguez (11, field); G Petit (2, field)

DP – 3 (G Petit-J Altuve-C Carter, D Keuchel-C Corporan-C Carter, M Dominguez-J Altuve-C Carter)

Pitching

Seattle

Houston

WP – C Young 2

Pitches-strikes – C Young 67-46; E Ramirez 61-44; L Luetge 9-8; D Keuchel 120-87; M Foltynewicz 15-9

Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 0-8; E Ramirez 4-8; L Luetge 0-1; D Keuchel 17-1; M Foltynewicz 1-1

Batters faced – C Young 17; E Ramirez 17; L Luetge 3; D Keuchel 31; M Foltynewicz 4

Game Details

Game Time: 2:34.

Umpires: HP–Hunter Wendelstedt. 1B–D.J. Reyburn. 2B–Dan Bellino. 3B–Brian O’Nora.

Weather: 86 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 12 mph, Out to Right.

Attendance: 36,525.