Bryce Miller pitched seven scoreless innings, and Julio Rodríguez contributed three hits and two RBIs to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night. This win stopped the Astros from clinching the AL West title.
The Astros needed just one win against the second-place Mariners to secure their fourth consecutive division championship. Instead, they struggled against Miller (12-8), managing only two singles while missing injured slugger Yordan Alvarez.
Seattle has won four out of five games and is now just 1 1/2 games behind the final American League wild-card spot, competing with Detroit, Kansas City, and Minnesota.
The Mariners are four games behind the Astros in the division standings, with five games left to play. Houston will get another chance to win the AL West when they face Seattle again on Tuesday night.
“We’ve just got to forget about the last game and show up with the best attitude,” said Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.
Rodríguez mentioned that the fact they prevented Houston from clinching the title didn’t concern him.
“We’re not really worried about that,” he said. “We’re really worried about winning one game at a time, and I feel like them winning the division is not really our concern. It’s more about us making it to the playoffs.”
In the game, Jon Singleton walked with one out in the second, and Jeremy Peña got Houston’s first hit with an infield single with two outs. Miller then dominated, retiring 13 batters in a row before walking Alex Bregman to start the seventh inning.
Yainer Diaz got a single that advanced both runners, but after a groundout by Singleton, Miller struck out the next two batters to finish his night.
“Bryce Miller was phenomenal tonight,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He had everything going, and that seventh inning was something pretty spectacular to see him pull through that, not giving up a run in that situation as he was getting close to the end of his limits.”
Altuve praised the 26-year-old pitcher, saying, “He was almost unhittable today.”
Miller, who grew up about 4 1/2 hours from Houston in Mount Pleasant, Texas, mentioned that Monday was special because many family and friends were at the game. This group included his grandfather, Ted Luce, who saw him pitch in the majors for the first time.
“They’ve been around since I was in T-ball, so I’m sure it’s a lot of fun for them watching me throw here,” Miller said. “I remember growing up watching the Astros play (on TV) when we were eating dinner and stuff, so it’s definitely a lot of fun pitching here in front of family and friends.”
Houston starter Hunter Brown (11-9) allowed three hits and one run, striking out eight batters in six innings.
Seattle’s Justin Turner had a hit and an RBI, extending his streak of reaching base safely to 18 games, which is the longest active streak in the majors.
Cal Raleigh gave the Mariners an early lead with an RBI single in the third inning.
Turner singled to start the seventh, followed by a one-out single from J.P. Crawford, which led to the exit of reliever Caleb Ferguson. Kaleb Ort took over and walked pinch-hitter Dylan Moore to load the bases.
Rodríguez singled home Turner with two outs, increasing the lead to 2-0. Moore was thrown out at third base on the play, ending the inning.
In the eighth inning, Raleigh, Randy Arozarena, and Luke Raley hit consecutive singles to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from Turner made it 3-0, and a double by Jorge Polanco brought in another run.
Houston got its only run from a home run by Jason Heyward to start the eighth inning.
Rodríguez and Arozarena then added RBI doubles in the ninth, bringing the score to 6-1.
