close
close

Astros take sole possession of 1st place for first time this season with 4-2 win over Mariners

Astros take sole possession of 1st place for first time this season with 4-2 win over Mariners

SEATTLE — Jake Meyers hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning off former Houston reliever Ryne Stanek and the Astros defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-2 on Saturday night to take sole possession of the AL West lead for the first time this year.

Houston was consistently behind the curve for the first 3½ months of the season, but has won six of eight games and now sits alone in first place.

“It’s great to hear, but I think it’s the same as month one or month two, where we were down 10, 12 games. I think we’ve adopted the same mentality, that we just have to keep winning games and playing together, and we’re a great team when we do that,” Meyers said.

Seattle lost its fifth straight season — its longest losing streak since losing six in a row in May 2022 — and fell out of first place for the first time since May 11.

“This team goes through a lot. It happens over the course of a season,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We’ve got guys that are struggling to get their footing and get going right now, and they know it. They feel it. And the team in the other dugout across the way is playing some really good baseball right now.”

Meyers hit a 1-2 pitch from Stanek (6-3) to right-center field for his 11th home run. Stanek led off the inning by walking Jeremy Peña, and Meyers’ homer cost George Kirby a chance at a win after he had allowed one run in six innings.

Yainer Diaz hit a solo home run off reliever Trent Thornton in the eighth inning, which bounced off the wall.

Julio Rodríguez broke Seattle’s 14-inning scoreless drought when his two-run homer off Framber Valdez gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the sixth. It was his 11th of the season, and Rodríguez nearly hit another longball in the eighth off Ryan Pressly, only to see Trey Cabbage make a leaping catch near the right-field wall.

Cabbage even made the same “no fly” gesture that Rodríguez makes after one of his defensive gems.

“He had me at home (in Houston), so I had to give him a subtle tap back,” Cabbage said.

It was one of two great defensive plays by the Astros in the eighth inning, when Joey Loperfido ended the inning with a diving catch of a Mitch Garver drive in the left-field corner, preventing a single run from being scored.

“Joey running that ball down, that ball moving away from him and he stayed with it the whole way, made a great jump and dove and caught it. I mean, just two great plays,” Meyers said.

Valdez pitched 5 2/3 innings. He allowed three hits, four walks and struck out six. Tayler Scott (7-3) got the final out of the sixth before Bryan Abreu, Pressly and Josh Hader completed the final three innings. Hader earned his 20th save.

“I threw to good locations. I think the only bad one I threw was the one that Julio could get to,” Valdez said through an interpreter.

Kirby allowed four hits and struck out six. Houston’s lone run came on Peña’s infield single that scored Alex Bregman in the fourth.

Houston batter Yordan Alvarez struck out to end the first inning. He was assessed a pitch clock violation for not being ready in the box before Kirby received a 3-2 pitch.

Astros: RHPs Justin Verlander (neck soreness) and Luis Garcia (Tommy John surgery) threw bullpens. Verlander threw about 40 pitches at increased intensity, while Garcia threw 15 pitches. Both are expected to return to pitching early next week. … C Victor Caratini (hip) is expected to catch for the second straight day at Double-A Corpus Christi.

Astros: RHP Ronel Blanco (9-4, 2.56 ERA) has allowed three or fewer earned runs in seven consecutive starts but lost to Texas in his last outing before the All-Star break.

Mariners: RHP Bryan Woo (3-1, 2.45) is making just his second start since June 24. Woo allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings on July 12.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb