During the last homestand, manager Lloyd McClendon spoke about the desire to see the entire Mariners offense get hot together. After a 10-4 win Monday, the Mariners followed up with a 13-2 victory over the Astros Tuesday. Looks like Seattle may be fulfilling his wish as it moved a season-best eight games over .500 with a fifth consecutive road win.
The Mariners (46-38) banged out a season-high 18 hits, including six doubles, while going 7-for-23 with runners in scoring position. The Mariners finished June 18-10, tied for most wins in the majors, and picked up Tuesday where they left off Monday.
Against starter Jared Cosart, Endy Chavez and James Jones reached base on a walk and a single. Robinson Cano delivered an RBI single to center and Kyle Seager followed with an RBI groundout for a 2-0 lead.
Houston (36-49) got one back when Matt Dominguez singled home Jose Altuve, but the M’s answered with a run in the second. The sixth inning unleashed the onslaught.
With a 3-1 lead and runners on first and second with two outs, Robinson Cano rifled a 3-2 pitch from a laboring Cosart just inside the third-base bag for a two-run double. To that point, Cosart (8-6, 3.93 ERA) issued four walks and threw nearly 110 pitches, as a patient team made the Astros starter come to them for a second night in a row.
Houston manager Bo Porter pulled Cosart in favor of Darin Downs, only to be greeted by five consecutive run-scoring hits, including four doubles. It marked the first time in club history that they had six consecutive run-scoring hits with two outs.
Up 10-1, Hisashi Iwakuma, who sat for more than half an an hour, pitched one more inning before taking his leave.
Iwakuma (6-4, 3.33 ERA) returned to form after two less-than-average performances. He was much sharper against the Astros after previously allowing 10 earned runs in nine combined innings against the Red Sox and Royals.
Iwakuma pitched six innings and gave up the lone first-inning run. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven before leaving on an economical 83 pitches with a 12-1 lead.
In the record night for the M’s offense, all starters had at least one hit, while only Brad Miller failed to score. Cano went 2-for-4 with three RBI, Jones 3-for-6 with three runs and two RBI and Logan Morrison 2-for-6 with an RBI.
Perhaps most pleasing for McClendon were the nights of Kyle Seager and Dustin Ackley. Seager came into the contest hitting a meager .196 on the road and .357 at home. But after starting 0-for-2, he notched hits in his next three at-bats, including a solo home run in the ninth off reliever Josh Zeid.
Ackley snapped an 0-for-21 skid with a base hit to right in his first at-bat and came up with two more, including an RBI double in the sixth, which capped the scoring barrage.
Notes
With hits in his first two plate appearances, Jones recorded six hits in six consecutive plate appearances, including four Monday . . . The game lasted three hours and 36 minutes.
