Mariners avoid sweep with series finale win against the Astros

The Mariners fought to stay tied with the Astros atop the AL West in an important game between the two division foes. Seattle did a good job of scoring runs early in this one as they put up two runs in second inning on a two-run triple from Dylan Moore. Giving the Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo early run support. Jorge Polanco would add a solo home run in the fifth.

Woo looked much better in this start than he did in Anaheim back on July 12th. He gave up one home run a solo shot to Astros' slugger Yordan Alvarez. Other than that he was sharp through five innings giving up just one run. Woo finished the game with five strikeouts, gave up just two runs on four hits, through 5.2 IP.

The Mariners came through in the finale to avoid being swept by the Astros

The Astros chased Woo in the sixth after Mauricio Dubon doubled and Jose Altuve reached on a broken-bat infield hit. But not before J.P. Crawford made a brilliant play to drop a line-drive off the bat of Alex Bregman, flipped the ball to second, as Polanco through to first to turn the double play. After Woo was pulled, Tayler Saucedo entered to face Alvarez who tripled off the wall in left-center field. Julio Rodriguez made a valiant effort to catch the ball, but dropped it after colliding with the fence.

Julio Rodriguez left the game with an injured lower leg/ankle and was replaced in the lineup by Ty France, as Victor Robles moved to center and Luke Raley to right field. Jorge Polanco singled with one out in the sixth, Blanco was removed from the game with two outs in the sixth inning, Seth Martinez came in relief. Mitch Haniger came through with a two-out single which extended the inning. Luke Raley hit a big three-run home run with two outs off relief pitcher Seth Martinez.

Raley's blast gave the Mariners much needed insurance runs. Jeremy Pena would hit a solo home run off pitcher Colin Snider to begin the seventh. Snider was able to get two outs before being removed with a runner on third base with two outs, as Gregory Santos would come in to face Jose Altuve. Santos would get Altuve to ground out to third baseman Josh Rojas to retire the side.

Gregory Santos stayed on in relief to pitch the eighth inning. Santos was able to get Alex Bregman to ground out. Yordan Alvarez would double down the right field line giving him the 10th cycle in Houston Astros history (the second in T-Mobile Park history). After a ground out by Yainier Diaz, Alvarez would score on a single by Chas McCormick. Santos would retire the side by getting Jeremy Pena to fly out to Victor Robles in center field.

Andres Munoz would come in to close out the ninth inning, after the Mariners were retired in order during the bottom half of the eighth. Munoz struck out Jake Meyers to begin the ninth inning on a slider. Then struck out Trey Cabbage on a slider. Munoz would strike out the side to close out the game and earn the save, after getting pinch-hitter Joey Loperfido to fan on a slider to the end the game, as the Mariners won 6-4.

The Mariners are now tied with the Astros following a big three-game series with Houston. They take on the Angels starting Monday in a three-game series at T-Mobile Park.