Tonight the Astros face the Mariners in the first game of a four-game series.
The Seattle Mariners have trouble coming into town.
The Houston Astros will play four games in Seattle, starting tonight. This is the second of four series this season between the two. Seattle won two-of-three from May 3 through May 5 at MMP. Later, they’ll play three in Seattle between July 19 and July 21, then three more back in Houston between September 23 and September 25.
GameTimes and Starting Pitchers (*unconfirmed)
Framber Valdez (3-2, 4.32) vs. Bryce Miller (3-5, 3.53)
*Cristian Javier (3-1, 3.89) vs. Luis Castillo (4-6, 3.31)
*Hunter Brown (1-5, 7.06) vs. George Kirby (4-5, 4.33)
*Spencer Arrighetti (2-5, 6.93) vs. Logan Gilbert (3-2, 3.06)
The first time Seattle played Houston this year, they came away with two out of three. Houston’s only win, the series opener on May 3, Seth Martinez (2-2, 1.96) earned a 5-3 victory. Ronel Blanco earned no decision, striking out six over six innings and earning a Quality Start, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. Yainer Diaz and Joey Loperfido each collected a pair of hits in the Houston victory. Jose Altuve stole his 300th base in the seventh inning.
Altuve has beaten us in a lot of different ways. — Scott Servais
The Astros just played three games against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum, winning the opener and the rubber match. In the series finale, on Sunday, the Astros won 5-2. Blanco (5-0, 1.99) struck out six over seven innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk for the victory. Jeremy Peña, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve secured a pair of hits each, and Kyle Tucker went deep for his major league-leading 18th home run.
I was mostly just focused on coming here and doing my job. Try and throw my pitches and try to help the team win. — Blanco
The Mariners lost the first two games of a three-game series in Washington D.C. against the Nationals before winning the finale on Sunday. Julio Rodriguez (4) collected four RBI on three hits, including a home run, and Ty France (6) totaled two hits, also including a home run. Steven Voth (2-0, 3.80) earned the win with a perfect inning of relief work, striking out a pair.
We need to just go out and compete and find a way to try and put some things together. It has been a struggle with us here in the last couple of days — Servais
Heroes and Zeroes (the highest and lowest WPA from the series versus the A’s)
Heroes
Mauricio Dubon (25.0)
Ronel Blanco (22.3)
Yordan Alvarez (19.2)
Jose Altuve (12.9)
Justin Verlander (6.9)
Zeroes
Kyle Tucker (-6.2)
Jon Singleton (-7.5)
Alex Bregman (-9.8)
Spencer Arrighetti (-11.7)
Yainer Diaz (-14.1)