Mariners take 2-of-3 from Astros with 5-1 win

By Ryan Divish The Seattle Times • July 19, 2017 7:30 pm
(John J. Kim | Chicago Tribune) James Paxton, seen here throwing against the Chicago White Sox at the start of the six-game road trip, provided a solid outing against Houston in a 5-1 win to cap the road trip with a win.
(John J. Kim | Chicago Tribune) James Paxton, seen here throwing against the Chicago White Sox at the start of the six-game road trip, provided a solid outing against Houston in a 5-1 win to cap the road trip with a win.

HOUSTON — To close out a near-perfect road trip and win a series against the team with the best record and best offense in the American League, the Mariners turned to their best pitcher and budding ace, James Paxton.

It wasn’t by accident that Paxton was pitching in the final game of the series Wednesday. The starting rotation was slotted that way coming out of the All-Star break.

Paxton pitched like a No. 1 starter and the Mariners provided enough offense for a 4-1 victory and a series win. Seattle closed out the road trip with a 5-1 record and returns back to .500 at 48-48 on the season.

In terms of expectations of play coming out of the break, the Mariners couldn’t have done much better. They return to Safeco Field to open a three-team, 10-game, 11-day homestand Thursday night, starting with a four-game series against the New York Yankees, a team they are competing with for an AL wild-card spot.

Few pitchers have stymied Astros hitters this season quite like Paxton.

He delivered another outstanding outing against the best team and offense in the American League, pitching seven innings and allowing just one run with a walk and seven strikeouts. Of his 108 pitches, 79 were strikes.

There have been only 10 games this season in which an opposing starting pitcher has gone seven or more innings and allowed one run or fewer against the mighty Astros. Paxton has done it twice. On April 10 in Seattle, he tossed seven shutout innings, allowing four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in a 6-0 win.

In three starts vs. Houston this season, Paxton has pitched 20 innings, allowing one run on seven its with three walks and 20 strikeouts.

His lone run allowed came in the third inning when the Astros went old school and played small ball. Alex Bregman led off with a single, was sacrificed to second, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly from George Springer.

The Mariners answered in the top of the fourth against Astros starter Charlie Morton, who was perfect through the first three innings. Jean Segura dumped a single into left-center for the Mariners’ first hit of the game. The next batter, Ben Gamel, turned on a 1-1 cutter, sending a line drive over the wall in right field for his fifth homer of the season and a 2-1 Mariners lead.

Seattle picked up run in the sixth on Robinson Cano’s bases loaded fielder’s choice to make it 3-1.

An inning later, Mike Zunino continued his attempt to recapture his June success. With two outs and Danny Valencia on second, Zunino roped a double into the left-field corner, pushing the lead to 4-1.