HOUSTON – Bryce Miller threw seven scoreless innings and Julio Rodríguez had three hits and two RBIs to help the Seattle Mariners to a 6-1 victory over Houston on Monday night that prevented the Astros from clinching the AL West title.
A win over second-place Seattle was enough for the Astros to secure their fourth consecutive division title.
Instead, they struggled against Miller (12-8), managing only two singles while playing without injured hitter Yordan Alvarez.
Seattle has won four of five games and is now within 1 1/2 games of the American League’s final wild card spot in a tight race that also includes Detroit, Kansas City and Minnesota.
The Mariners are four games behind the Astros in the division standings with five games remaining. Houston has another chance to win the AL West when the teams meet again Tuesday night.
“We just have to forget about the last game and come out with the best attitude,” said Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.
Rodríguez said he didn’t care that Houston lost the win by winning.
“We’re not too worried about that,” he said. “We’re really focused on winning one game at a time, and I feel like we’re not really worried about them winning the division. We’re more concerned about making the playoffs.”
Jon Singleton walked with one out in the second inning, and an infield single by Jeremy Peña gave Houston its first hit with two outs. Miller cruised through the next few innings, striking out 13 batters in a row before issuing a walk to Alex Bregman to start the seventh inning.
Yainer Diaz hit a grounder to right field for a single, and both runners advanced on a groundout by Singleton. But then Miller struck out the next two hitters to end his night.
“Bryce Miller was phenomenal tonight,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He had everything under control and then it was pretty spectacular how he went through the seventh inning and didn’t allow a single run in that situation when he was at the end of his rope.”
Altuve also raved about the 26-year-old right-hander.
“He was almost unbeatable today,” Altuve said.
Miller, who grew up in Mount Pleasant, Texas, about 4 1/2 hours from Houston, said Monday was special because he had a large group of family and friends at the ballpark. The group included his grandfather, Ted Luce, who saw him pitch in the major leagues for the first time.
“They’ve been around since I was in T-ball, so I’m sure they have a lot of fun watching me throw here,” Miller said. “I remember watching the Astros play (on TV) as a kid at dinner and stuff, so it’s definitely a lot of fun to throw here in front of family and friends.”
Houston starter Hunter Brown (11-9) allowed three hits and one run with eight strikeouts in six innings.
Seattle’s Justin Turner had a hit and an RBI, extending his safe bases streak to 18 games, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
Cal Raleigh gave the Mariners an early lead with an RBI single in the third inning.
Turner opened the seventh with a single before a JP Crawford single chased reliever Caleb Ferguson with just one out. Kaleb Ort took over and walked pinch hitter Dylan Moore to load the bases.
Rodríguez brought Turner home with a single with two outs to extend the lead to 2-0. Moore was thrown out at third base on the play that ended the inning.
Raleigh, Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley hit consecutive singles to load the bases to start the eighth. A sacrifice fly by Turner made it 3-0 and a double by Jorge Polanco brought home another run.
Houston scored its only run on a home run by Jason Heyward early in the eighth inning.
Rodríguez and Arozarena each hit an RBI double in the ninth inning to increase the lead to 6-1.
TRAINING ROOM
Mariners: RHP Gregory Santos (biceps inflammation) was activated from the 15-day injured list. … LHP Jhonathan Díaz was sent to the team’s spring training complex.
Astros: Manager Joe Espada said after the game that Alvarez suffered a sprained right knee and would not be available for this series.
Next
Seattle’s RHP Logan Gilbert (8-11, 3.24 ERA) will face LHP Framber Valdez (14-7, 2.85) on Tuesday night.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
