Mitch Garver and Julio Rodríguez hit home runs, and the Seattle Mariners capitalized on five errors by the Houston Astros to secure an 8-1 victory on Wednesday.
Seattle (82-77) has now won five out of their last seven games as they aim for an AL wild card spot, competing with Detroit and Kansas City for one of the final two positions.
“We’ve got three now to go and we just keep grinding,” said manager Dan Wilson. “We’ve got everything right in front of us. Three games that we have to win and probably have to get some help along the way, too. But we’ve just got to do what we do and not worry about anything else.”
The Mariners fell behind 1-0 but rallied in the sixth inning. Dylan Moore reached base due to the first of four errors from rookie third baseman Shay Whitcomb, who came in during the fourth inning. Victor Robles walked, and Cal Raleigh hit a single to load the bases.
Justin Turner then extended his on-base streak to 20 games with a single that brought in two runs.
Garver started the seventh inning with his 14th home run, hitting a line drive into the left-field seats. The Mariners added two more runs in that inning due to three errors by the Astros, including two from Whitcomb.
“Offensively we had some breaks later, we took advantage of some of their miscues,” Wilson said. “We were able to keep adding on later in the game.”
A fourth error by Whitcomb allowed Moore to get on base with no outs in the ninth, and he scored on a double from Robles. Rodríguez then hit his 20th home run of the season.
“I’ll have a conversation with (Whitcomb) but we’ll turn the page,” said Astros manager Joe Espada. “This is a sure-handed third baseman. He’s done it in the minor leagues.”
Yusei Kikuchi (9-10) struck out eight batters in six innings during his first loss with Houston, giving up two unearned runs and four hits.
