Mariners pile up the runs vs. the Astros, claim series win

It is the Houston Astros the Mariners will have to beat to have any chance at winning their first AL West title in 21 years.

And in the first showdown this year with the team that has won four of the last five division crowns, the Mariners did just that, using a 7-2 win over the Astros Sunday at T-Mobile Park to take the series 2-1.

They also maybe sent a statement Houston’s way, outscoring the Astros 18-7 on the weekend and evening their record at 5-5 in winning for the third time in the last four games.

Sunday, they did it getting of getting 5.1 innings of at times erratic but mostly unhittable pitching from 23-year-old rookie Matt Brash making his T-Mobile debut — Brash didn’t allow a hit until there was one out in the sixth — along with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, and a balanced offensive attack in which Seattle got 10 hits from seven different players, the most critical a three-run homer from Ty France in the fourth.

In other words, pretty much what they are going to need every time they play the Astros, a team they will see a lot early on.

The Mariners, in fact, play 19 of their first 103 games against the Astros, the two teams next meeting May 2-4 in Houston.

But after July 31, the two teams will not play again, behooving the Mariners to not let the early chances to beat the Astros go to waste.

Seattle didn’t Sunday, scoring in the first inning to quickly wipe away the specter of the offensive futility of Saturday night’s 4-0 loss at the hands of Justin Verlander, then scoring five more in the fourth to chase Houston starter Jose Urquidy.

But the biggest story might have been the performance of Brash in what was the second start of his career.

Brash was a little bit of everywhere with his pitches walking six and hitting a batter and throwing just 44 strikes in 85 pitches.

Brash walked Jose Altuve to open the game, and walked three of the first seven batters he faced while hitting another, throwing 21 balls out of 34 pitches to that point.

But Brash continually made big pitches when he had to, enticing three double-play grounders — in the second, third and fourth innings — and also getting a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the first.

That included getting Altuve to ground weakly to short on an 84.3-mile an hour slider in the third after he had walked leadoff hitter Chas McCormick on four pitches. Brash also got Yuli Gurriel to hit into two other double plays in the second and fourth.

And when Brash struck out McCormick on three pitches to start the sixth, getting him swinging on a slider, the idea that a no-hitter could be in the offing began to feel real.

Maybe to be expected, it was Altuve — who spent the weekend getting booed at every turn — who played the role of villain to the hilt, breaking up the no-hitter with one out in the sixth, reaching to dump a slider into shallow center for a single.

Michael Brantley followed by clubbing a slider over the fence in right field to break up the shutout and make it 6-2.

Brash then walked Alex Bregman and was lifted in favor of Paul Sewald, drawing a standing ovation from the 26,583 in attendance as he walked off the mound.

Sewald suitably doused the fire, striking out Kyle Tucker and Gurriel to end the threat.

Still, it was about as encouraging a first home start as the Mariners could have asked from the 23-year-old native of Kingston, Ontario, who won the fifth spot in the rotation with a stellar spring.

Brash, acquired in a trade with the Padres in 2020, made his MLB debut Tuesday, striking out six and allowing just four hits and two earned runs in 5.1 innings of a 3-2 loss to the White Sox.

The Mariners, who scored on a Eugenio Suarez double to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning, blew it open with five runs on five hits in the fourth inning — all the runs coming with two outs.

The rally started innocuously enough with Luis Torrens and Jared Kelenic each reaching on infield base hits with one out.

After an Abraham Toro fly out,  Julio Rodriguez hit a sharp line drive to center to score Torrens and make it 2-0. It was the first career run batted in for Rodriguez. 

Adam Frazier followed with another single to center to score Kelenic and make it 3-0.

France then delivered the game’s big blow, a home to right-center on a 91.6-mile an hour fastball from Urquidy on a 3-1 count.

That put Seattle up 6-0 and then left the big question how long Brash could go — and without allowing Houston a hit.

But the Mariners didn’t seem phased by Brantley’s homer, quickly getting one run back in the bottom of the sixth 

Kelenic, whose bat seems to be waking up, led off with a double to left-center and then scored on a double by Toro.

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