Seattle has only mustered one run through their first two games of the season. After getting shut out by Houston in the opener, they fall 2-1 on Tuesday night. The Astros started the scoring by getting a run across the board in the third inning. The Mariners immediately responded by scoring a run themselves at the top of the fourth. Later in the contest, first baseman Marwin Gonzalez smacks the second home run of the game immediately in the sixth inning. That ended up being the game-winning run for Houston.
Mariners limited on offense again
Seattle can't seem to find their rhythm offensively in the opening contests.
They recorded seven hits with first baseman Danny Valencia being the only player to record more than one. He was responsible for the lone RBI, bringing in right fielder Mitch Haniger. 11 strikeouts were tallied up for the offense, with Haniger being tripped up by pitchers three times. Even worse, seven Mariners were left in scoring position with two outs.
Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma picked up the loss despite a solid outing. He gave up two earned runs on four hits -- both runs came off of homers. He also walked three batters and only struck out two of them. His total pitch count was pretty low at 83 on the night.
Starting pitcher lifts Astros to win
While the offense wasn't on fire, it was starting right-hander Lance McCullers Jr.
that delivered a gem for his club. Like his opponent, he lasted six innings but only gave up one run on five hits. He also struck out seven players and didn't allow any fly balls -- 12 Mariners ended up grounding out to him. It should give the AL West favorites some confidence in their starting rotation.
Catcher Brian McCann was the other player to get a home run in the contest.
His hit obviously occurred in the third inning to open up the scoring in the game. None of the Astros batters hit more than once in the contest, but only three of them struck out.
The third in a four-game series takes place on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled at Minute Maid Park at 8:10 PM Eastern time.
