Mariners win one, lose two on the road against 'Stros

HOUSTON (AP) — The Mariners were on the road to face the Houston Astros in a three-game series over the weekend. The Seattle team was able to pull out a win Friday but struggled in the games that came after, taking the weekend with two losses to their one victory. 

Cal Raleigh hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off the right field foul pole and the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 5-3 on Friday night. 

Raleigh's 17th homer followed Julio Rodríguez's tying RBI double in the seventh inning. Leody Taveras homered among his three hits, and Miles Mastrobuoni also hit a solo home run. 

Emerson Hancock (2-2) gave up three runs and nine hits in six innings, striking out three and walking none. Hancock won for the first time in six starts, and Andrés Muñoz got the last three outs for 17th save while maintaining his 0.00 ERA. 

Isaac Paredes hit his 11th homer of the season and seventh in the past 10 games for Houston. 

Jose Altuve had three hits after hitting two homers Thursday. The former second-baseman easily threw out Raleigh when the Mariners' catcher tried to score from second on Taveras' line-drive single to left in the sixth. 

Cam Smith also had three hits for the Astros. 

Altuve played his 1,870th career game, tying Jośe Cruz for third-most in Astros history behind Craig Biggio (2,850) and Jeff Bagwell (2,150). 

Bryan Abreau (1-2) allowed two runs and three hits in 1 1/3 innings, giving up runs for just the second time in 21 appearances. He surrendered three to the Mariners on April 9 for his other loss. 

Saturday 

Christian Walker and Jeremy Peña had two hits apiece and the Houston Astros scored two runs in the first inning on errors by Seattle and held on for a 2-1 win over the Mariners on Saturday. 

There were two outs in the first and Jose Altuve was at second base when Christian Walker singled and Altuve scored when Bryan Woo (5-2) badly overthrew first base. 

Walker advanced to second on Woo’s error and scored when Victor Caratini reached on a fielding error by second baseman Leo Rivas. Caratini’s grounder bounced off the glove of Rivas and into the outfield to allow Walker to score easily. 

Framber Valdez (4-4) allowed four hits and a run while tying a season high with four walks in six innings to win his third straight decision. 

Julio Rodríguez was on second with two outs in the eighth when Bryan Abreu struck out Mitch Garver to leave him stranded. Josh Hader allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth for his 13th save. 

Woo tied a career high by allowing nine hits, but struck out five and didn’t allow an earned run in six innings. 

The Mariners went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position to fall to 1-2 in this four-game series. 

Randy Arozarena opened the second with a triple to left field and the Mariners cut the lead to 2-1 when he scored on a groundout by Garver. 

The Astros had a chance to pad their lead in the third with runners at first and second with no outs. But Woo retired Caratini, Jake Meyers and Cam Smith to end the inning. 

Seattle turned double plays in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings on a day Houston went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. 

Sunday 

Christian Walker hit a game-winning, two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. 

The game was tied at 3 when Jose Altuve singled with no outs in the ninth. Walker, who had three hits, then sent a fastball from Casey Legumina (4-2) into the seats in left field to give the Astros the walkoff victory and 3-1 series win over the AL West leaders. 

Walker's big game came after the struggling first baseman had just three hits combined in his previous seven games. 

Bryan King (3-0) struck out Randy Arozarena to end Seattle’s ninth and manager Dan Wilson was ejected for the first time in his career for arguing with home plate umpire Laz Diaz after the call. 

Seattle had runners on first and third with one out in the eighth when Ben Williamson hit a grounder to second baseman Mauricio Dubón. He threw home in time to get J.P. Crawford out at the plate before Leo Rivas grounded out for the third out. 

The Astros loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Isaac Paredes grounded out to leave everyone stranded. That came after they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but came away empty after Seattle turned a double play. 

Jake Meyers was on first with two outs in the sixth when Cam Smith laced an RBI double down the right field line to tie it at 3. 

Seattle starter Luis Castillo allowed nine hits and three runs with six strikeouts in six innings. Castillo threw 114 pitches Sunday to tie Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene for most pitches thrown in a game this season. 

Houston’s Colton Gordon allowed seven hits and three runs in five innings in his third major league start. 

Julio Rodríguez had three hits and Mitch Garver drove in two runs for the Mariners. 

Rodríguez and Arozarena hit consecutive singles with two outs in the first before Garver made it 2-0 on his double to center. 

There were two outs in the third with Rodríguez on third when Donovan Solano singled on a grounder to left field to extend the lead to 3-0. 

Houston cut it to 3-1 on an RBI single by Walker with one out in the bottom of the third. A sacrifice fly by Caratini that Leody Taveras jumped to catch on the warning track scored Altuve to make it 3-2. 

Both teams were off Monday. The Washington Nationals will pay the Mariners a visit Tuesday evening.