José Urquidy Tosses Six for Astros as Mariners Threaten Late

José Urquidy and the Houston Astros snap the Seattle Mariners' 14-game win streak.

Lindsey Wasson-USA TODAY Sports

José Urquidy entered Friday with a 10.38 ERA against the Seattle Mariners in 2022 which spanned three starts. But as fans packed T-Mobile Park to a "World Series-like" atmosphere, the Astros' starter pitched like his previous three starts against the American League West foe never occurred.

In his previous six starts, Urquidy sported a 2.75 ERA in 39 1/3 innings as Friday marked his seventh-consecutive quality start. Ditching his cutter has turned the Urquidy's season around while righty tossed six one-run innings Saturday.

Urquidy punched out only three batters on his 105 pitches, allowing one run on four hits and two walks. The Mariners' only run off the righty came with a Ty France solo-home run in the sixth inning.

In the eighth inning, the Mariners flirted with the bases loaded. Phil Maton yielded a single and a walk before retiring his first batter in Jesse Winker via a pop out. The righty then walked Carlos Santana to load the bases.

Manager Dusty Baker saw enough, handing the ball to Ryne Stanek. The flamethrower battled command early, dropping an 0-2 count into a walk to Eugenio Suarez. The walk brought home an inherited runner from third as the Astros led 5-2.

Kyle Lewis looked to have driven in a run (or two) with a liner to Jeremy Peña — who made a jumping grab to keep the runners at bay. Stanek punched out Cal Raleigh five pitches later to improve his scoreless streak to 27 innings. The righty's run passed Will Harris' 26 1/3 scoreless innings from 2016. 

With Ryan Pressly on the paternity list, Héctor Neris picked up his second save opportunity in two days. Neris — who pitched with only the Philadelphia Phillies prior to the Astros — recorded his first American League save Friday. 

Houston Astros Designated Hitter Yordan Álvarez / Lindsey Wasson-USA TODAY Sports

Since the start of the 2021 season, José Altuve leads Major League Baseball in lead-off home runs. Saturday, the righty picked up his 15th in that stretch with a shot to center field on a three-hit night.

Up 1-0, Yordan Álvarez followed with his own solo shot in the fourth inning — his 28th on the year, third-best in MLB. The runs didn't stop there as Martín Maldonado continued his home run trot against Seattle with his 10th blast of the season on a solo shot in the fifth.

Álvarez also drove in Altuve from third in the same inning with a sacrifice fly. Jake Meyers — who snapped a 1-for-24 slump — singled home Aledmys Díaz to tack on Houston's fifth run of the contest.

The Astros improved to 62-32 on the year, snapping the Mariners' 14-game win streak in the process. The club returns to play at 3:10 p.m. Saturday as Justin Verlander makes his first start since in the second half against Logan Gilbert.

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