[April 22, 2014]SEATTLE — Even during a seven-game
losing streak, Houston manager Bo Porter saw the Astros' bats coming to
life.
All it took was a trip to Safeco Field for the Houston offense to rise
from the dead.
The worst offense in the American League erupted for six runs off
Seattle ace Felix Hernandez, all of them coming in the fifth and
sixth innings, and the Astros rolled on to a 7-2 victory over the
Mariners on Monday night to snap a seven-game slide.
"I felt like offensively we were getting close," Porter said, "and
today it seemed like the guys put it all together."
The Astros (6-14) hit .295 while scoring more than six runs per game
at Safeco Field last season, and the rare offensive onslaught
continued in Houston's first 2014 trip to Seattle on Monday night.
The Astros struggled to get much going against Hernandez until Matt
Dominguez broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the fifth.
Then a Seattle error helped open the floodgates in the top of the
sixth.
Seattle (7-12) has now lost seven in a row, the longest current
streak in baseball.
"I see energy, but I don't see a lot of execution right now —
on a
lot of different fronts," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said.
"Listen, it's a work in progress. We'll be OK. It's our 19th game of
the season."
Dominguez, Houston's regular third baseman, went 2-for-3 and drove
in three runs while serving as the designated hitter for only the
second time this season.
"(Hernandez) is one of the best pitchers in the game, (but) I think
he left some balls up tonight," Dominguez said. "And we were able to
capitalize on it."
Left fielder Alex Presley went 3-for-4, scoring twice while driving
in a run with a triple into the right-field corner in the sixth.
Houston starter Dallas Keuchel (2-1) outdueled Hernandez, allowing
two runs and six hits in six innings. He struck out eight.
"It's nice," Keuchel said of picking up a win on a night when
Hernandez was pitching. "It's nicer to help the team win and get off
that little snide."
After Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager botched a routine ground
ball for what would have been the first out of the sixth inning,
Houston took a 3-2 lead on Jason Castro's sacrifice fly and then
rallied to add three more runs with two outs. The four runs in the
inning, all unearned, opened a 6-2 lead for Houston.
Hernandez (3-1) gave up a season-high seven hits, four of which went
for extra bases, but was only charged with two earned runs in seven
innings. He threw 96 pitches and struck out four.
"Mechanics," Hernandez said of his sixth-inning problems. "The ball
was up, and they swung hard. I came back in the seventh and made an
adjustment."
Houston first baseman Marc Krauss, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs,
gave the Astros their final run with a solo homer off Seattle
reliever Tom Wilhelmsen in the eighth.
Houston pitchers finished with 14 strikeouts.
"That was arguably our best game we played all year," Porter said,
"as far as complete baseball."
Hernandez and Keuchel rolled through the first four scoreless
innings before Dominguez put the first runs on the board with a
two-run shot in the fifth. Dominguez's third home run of the season
came on a 2-2 pitch from Hernandez, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead.
Keuchel kept the Seattle bats at bay by giving up only two hits in
the first four innings, but the Mariners got to him in the fifth.
After Seager and catcher Mike Zunino led off the inning with
back-to-back hits, center fielder Abraham Almonte tied the score 2-2
with a one-out, two-run double into the right-field corner. Keuchel
struck out the next two batters —
his sixth and seventh strikeouts
of the evening —
to strand Almonte at second base with the score
still tied at 2.
NOTES: Houston RHP Scott Feldman, the Astros' Opening Day pitcher
and most effective starter thus far, was placed on the 15-day
disabled list on Monday, retroactive to April 18. He has been
battling tendinitis in his biceps and will be eligible to return on
or after May 2. Feldman, who signed a three-year, $30 million
free-agent contract with Houston after spending last season with the
Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles, is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA in four
starts with the Astros. ... RHP Collin McHugh, who has a career 0-8
record and 8.94 ERA, is scheduled to be called up from Triple-A
Oklahoma City to take Feldman's scheduled start on Tuesday. ... The
Mariners shuffled their lineup on Monday, with LF Dustin Ackley
moving up to second in the batting order and usual No. 2 hitter Brad
Miller dropping to ninth. Miller went 3-for-23 on Seattle's recent
road trip and was hitless in 10 consecutive at-bats heading into
Monday's game. ... Seattle LHP James Paxton, who opened the season
as the Mariners' No. 2 starter, will probably be out at least until
late May, manager Lloyd McClendon revealed before Monday's game.
Paxton is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained lat muscle.
... The Mariners have now been outscored 17-0 in eighth innings this
year.
