The loss dropped the Mariners back to 45-45 and kept them 8 1/2 games behind first-place Texas. His start came on a day when Houston’s Lance McCullers (4-4) was nearly as dominant. Brought in to protect a one-run lead, closer Steve Cishek gave up a leadoff double on a 1-2 slider to put the tying run in scoring position, causing immediate problems with Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Luis Valbuena to follow. He struck out eight and walked four in 5 1/3 innings.
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“It was payback time”, Iwakuma said through interpreter Antony Suzuki. “They got me pretty good the last couple starts. We had to change our gameplan”. “I didn’t feel comfortable, but it was OK.
You’ve got to finish the innings”, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “There’s no doubt, he’s been our most consistent guy”. “He’ll get some chases, too, because he’s deceptive up in the zone”. “We had a meeting with our catcher and pitching coach and had a good idea of how we were going to approach this”. I use my split a lot with two strikes.
“I was thinking about we needed that run”, Altuve saiod.
“He’s back to putting the ball in play, making contact and doing Nori Aoki-type things”. The Mariners beat the Astros 1-0.
Robinson Cano looks to continue his red-hot hitting in the season series when his Seattle Mariners host the Houston Astros on Sunday in the rubber match of their three-game set. Iwakuma and McCullers combined to throw five scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts between them before Seattle finally pushed a run across in the sixth.It marked the first time this season that Iwakuma did not allow a run in a game. I knew I had to keep the ball down with (Valbuena). “I’m not usually much of a fist-pump guy, but it was a little bit of aggression taken out on my glove”. With the King out, we have to stay patient and step up until he comes back. Houston scored four times with two outs, including George Springer and Correa both scoring on wild pitches. Only Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox has more wins (14) among AL pitchers. Diaz worked around a one-out single and steal, which got the game to Cishek.
The Astros’ best chance came in the top of the ninth, thanks to Marwin Gonzalez’s leadoff double.
“You’ve just got to forget about it”, Cishek said, “and attack from there”. The team said he was day-to-day. “I was just glad he bunted it back to me”.
Altuve soon atoned for his poor bunt by stealing third, forcing the Mariners to move their infielders in for a play at the plate. Altuve then stole third, but Cishek struck out the final two batters to earn his 22nd save. “He’s had some tough outings this year”. Houston SS Carlos Correa went into Saturday’s game with 35 career home runs as a shortstop. But he made great pitches.
“We wouldn’t be in a good spot (without him)”, Servais said.
PLUS: Hisashi Iwakuma had his second career game in which he pitched at least seven innings and allowed two or fewer hits. In his first game on June 27, he went 2-for-4 with a double – his first extra base hit in two weeks. It’s not the team the Mariners hoped the 34-year-old would be contributing to when it signed him last December but its where Aoki ended up after struggling mightily in Major League Baseball against left-handed pitchers and in left field. Pitching for Triple-A Tacoma, Hernandez threw 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run and five hits. “He knows me very well”.
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SHORT HOPS: This was the Mariners’ second 1-0 victory of the season. Dae-Ho Lee’s one-out double ignited a three-run answer, which included a two-run double by O’Malley.
