The Houston Astros fell to the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Monday night inside Minute Maid Park. The loss means Houston has to wait at least one more day to clinch the American League West.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
This game was set up to be a pitchers’ duel, as both teams had top arms on the mound. Houston sent Hunter Brown to the hill, who has continued to have an incredible run of good outings. Brown faced the minimum in a quick first inning.
Seattle countered with Bryce Miller. He also had a quick first inning, retiring the Astros in order to begin his outing.
Each pitcher matched the other zero for zero through the first couple innings. In the top of the third, however, the Mariners got on the board. After a couple of walks, Cal Raleigh singled home a run to make it 1-0.
That was the last scoring for quite a while. Each starter worked clean innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames. Brown was pulled entering the seventh after another quality start was delivered.
The bullpen struggled immediately. Caleb Ferguson only got one out, and was lifted for Kaleb Ort. Ort got the first out, but allowed a two-out RBI single. Houston threw out a runner at third to prevent the second run from scoring. That kept it at 2-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
The Astros got runners to second and third with just one out in the bottom half. However, Miller got two big strikeouts to escape the jam and keep the Mariner lead in tact.
That lead would be doubled in the eighth. A Justin Turner sacrifice fly and a Jorge Polanco RBI double made it 4-0.
Houston got on the board with a Jason Heyward solo homer in the bottom of the eighth. However, Seattle answered with two more in the top of the ninth. They held on for a 6-1 win over the Astros.
BIG NUMBER: 7
Bryce Miller gave Seattle seven shutout innings on the mound. He worked out of a jam in the seventh to complete a masterful outing.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Bryce Miller
If the Mariners are to pull off an improbable run to overtake the Astros and win the division, they will need pitching performances like this. Miller was excellent on Monday.
UP NEXT: The Astros and Mariners will continue their series tomorrow night, September 24th at 7:10 PM. The game can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.