3 Up, 3 Down: Ty France Breaks Mini Slump, Bullpen Cruises as Mariners Take Series From Astros
The Mariners have secured their fourth consecutive series victory, and first in Houston since 2018, defeating the Astros by a score of 6-3 on Wednesday. Coincidentally, 6-3 just so happens to be their final record on this road trip, bringing them up to just five games under .500 at 26-31 and only a half-game back of the Rangers and Angels for second place in the American League West.
Bouncing back from being on the wrong side of a Justin Verlander masterclass, Seattle's offense jumped on Houston starter José Urquidy for five runs—four earned—on seven hits, including two home runs, and four walks. In total, the bats put six runs on the board with 13 hard-hit balls and kept the pressure on for most of the night.
Pitching was a tale of two sides for the Mariners. They got a bumpy start from Logan Gilbert, but their bullpen kept its recent hot stretch going with another impressive effort to close things out. Overall, it was a fairly well-rounded rubber match for Seattle.
With the win, the Mariners have now taken three of four series from the Astros this season. The two sides are currently split at six wins apiece in the head-to-head matchup, with two more series against one another—one in Seattle, one in Houston—coming before the end of July.
For now, Seattle will get a much-needed day off on Thursday before embarking on a 10-day, 11-game—yes, you read that right—homestand at T-Mobile Park. But before we turn our attention to what's ahead, let's take a look back at the action from Wednesday's victory and go over the three best and worst performances for the Mariners.
3 Up
The Mariners' bullpen
Just like in Monday night's win, Seattle's bullpen had to tag in following a shaky start and hold off an unrelenting Houston lineup for multiple high-leverage innings. This time, however, the unit needed just nine outs instead of 12 and it didn't waste any time crossing each one off. Andrés Muñoz gave up a one-out hit in the seventh, but kept it at that with one of his best innings in some time; Paul Sewald made his first appearance since Sunday and faced the minimum; then Diego Castillo closed out the ninth with one of his filthiest innings of the year, striking out the side. The bullpen has been an issue for most of the year, but the Mariners got exactly what they needed from it in this series.
C Cal Raleigh
Another night, another Raleigh home run. Make it 9-0 for the Mariners in games in which the 25-year old catcher has gone yard. This time around, he knotted things up at 3-3 with a two-run, 386-foot bomb to right-center field in the top of the fourth. He also had a good night behind the dish, most notably blocking a spiked slider from Gilbert, which he tracked down quickly to make an impressive throw to nab Yordan Álvarez at second base and put an end to the fifth inning. After a rough start to the year, Raleigh is slowly but surely morphing into a fine contributor for Seattle.
1B Ty France
France broke out of his mini slump with a strong night at the plate, going 2 for 4 with a solo home run into the Crawford Boxes and a walk. He also ripped a single to his pull side that went 103 MPH off the bat, setting up an eventual bases loaded situation in the top of the eighth. This was an encouraging end to an otherwise underwhelming road trip for France.
Honorable Mentions
SS J.P. Crawford
Crawford put together a night at the plate befitting of his cleanup spot. He drove in the Mariners' first run of the game with an opposite-field single that zoomed past the outstretched glove of Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, then he went oppo again his next time through the lineup with a double into the left-center field corner that exploded off the bat at 99.7 MPH. Oddly enough, his third hard-hit ball of the game, which registered the highest exit velocity of the three (100.1 MPH), resulted in an inning-ending double play, killing a bases loaded threat by the Mariners in the eighth.
OF Taylor Trammell
The box score doesn't tell the full story of Trammell's night. He was hitting almost everything on the button, recording a total of three hard-hit balls, though two beelined for Astros gloves. The other, however, found some grass and in a hurry at an exit velocity of 108.5 MPH, putting Trammell on second with his sixth extra-base hit in 15 games. He later scored on an RBI single by Jesse Winker.
3 Down
RHP Logan Gilbert
Gilbert's command came and went throughout the night, and his final line would have likely come out a bit worse if not for José Altuve getting thrown out at home during a two-run third for the Astros. In all, the Stetson product gave up three earned runs on seven hits, nine hard-hit balls and three walks over 6.0 innings pitched, striking out just three with 26 of his 109 pitches (23.8 percent) resulting in a called strike or whiff. He battled, but it certainly wasn't his best day on the bump.
2B Adam Frazier
Frazier came through with a key sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 5-3 Mariners, but he was one of just two of the team's starting nine hitters to not record a hit in the win. He finishes a forgettable road trip with six 0-fers in nine games.
OF Julio Rodríguez
Rodríguez started his night getting caught swinging out of his shoes for a strikeout in the first and, like Frazier, went on to finish the game hitless. That said, being the incredibly fun player that he is, the 21-year old rookie still collected a walk and had a nice outing in the field.
