SEATTLE (AP) — Brad Peacock held his own against Seattle Mariners starter Felix Hernandez. And even though the Houston Astros didn’t come away with a win, interim manager Tom Lawless was pleased with his pitcher’s performance.
Peacock has had a tough season, coming in with a 4-8 record and a 5.01 ERA. He worked five innings and allowed no runs and just four hits. He walked two and struck out six in the Astros’ 4-1 loss to the Mariners on Monday night.
Neither Peacock nor Hernandez, the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner and a strong candidate for the honor this season, got a decision in the game.
“He battled the best pitcher in baseball and left it a tied game,” Lawless said. “He’s going to feel good about himself, and now next time he goes out there he won’t feel overextended.”
It wasn’t until the eighth inning when Seattle broke out. With the game tied 1-1, Brad Miller had perhaps his best contribution to the Mariners this season. He hit a game-breaking, two-run triple in the eighth and drove in three runs overall.
With one out, Mike Zunino worked a walk off Michael Foltynewicz (0-1). James Jones pinch-ran for him and stole second. Tony Sipp entered and walked Michael Saunders.
Jones then stole third without a throw, giving him 25 steals in 26 attempts.
“I was just trying to be aggressive, honestly,” Miller said. “I was just looking for something I could drive. I was able to lay off two sliders and let Jonesy get to third. I just wanted to get the head out and drive it.”
With the infield and outfield drawn in, Miller cracked a line shot that skipped past right-fielder Jake Marisnick and rolled to the wall. Both runners scored and Miller reached third standing up.
Austin Jackson followed with a single to center, scoring Miller.
“I’ve said all year, and a lot of people thought I was crazy, but I believe he’s an offensive player in this league,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. “He’s struggled quite a bit early, but I think it’s starting to pay off a little bit now.”
The Mariners are one game behind Oakland, which lost to the Chicago White Sox 5-4 in 12 innings, for the first wild-card spot. Seattle is one game ahead of Detroit for the second one.
Danny Farquhar (3-1), who worked the eighth, earned the victory.
Fernando Rodney, despite putting two runners on in the ninth and throwing 30 pitches, earned his AL-leading 44th save in 47 chances.
“We battled and battled and battled to the end,” Lawless said. “Hernandez is a tough cookie to crack. To get him out of the game in the sixth is a big credit. Then it’s a one-run ball game going into the eighth.
“If we can be in those ballgames, it gives us a chance to win. We brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth.”
Hernandez, struggling with his control, tossed six shutout innings. He matched his season high with four walks and threw two wild pitches but he made pitches when he needed to.
He said it was his changeup that “was bouncing on the ground too much.
“They were swinging and they were taking,” he said. “Different guys had different approaches. But that was a big win for us.”
Houston put runners in scoring position three times against Hernandez but the Astros were hitless in five attempts to drive the runner in. Four were by strikeouts as Hernandez finished with eight.
Peacock held the Mariners hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“I felt pretty good about it,” Peacock said. “A few wild pitches, but those guys over there put some pretty good ABs, fouled off some pitches and got my pitch count up.
“He’s (Hernandez) probably the best pitcher in the game right now. He’s tough to hit. He has great stuff. We just had a battle out there.”
There was controversy in the seventh inning when the Astros tied it. With one out, Robbie Grossman lifted a high fly off of Brandon Maurer to right. Saunders timed his leap over the eight-foot wall and caught the ball but it flipped out of his glove as he whipped it back toward the field.
The umpires ruled a home run, but McClendon asked for a review. The call was overturned, and Grossman was sent back to third. McClendon then argued that it should have been ruled a double, not a triple. He lost the argument and was ejected for the sixth time this season and 49th in his career.
“I’m flabbergasted. I’m totally confused,” he said. “We were told in spring training when the umpire signals, the play stops. Well, they signaled home run when the runner was between first and second. I don’t know how you reward a triple there when a player stops. It makes no sense.”
Jose Altuve’s sacrifice fly to right scored Grossman, who finished with three hits.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Saunders was activated from the DL and started in right field. He has been out since July 11 with a left oblique strain and a viral infection. … OF Dustin Ackley missed his second straight game with an ailing left ankle. “It’s one of those things that might take a couple days and I’ll be ready to go,” he said. He will have an MRI to rule out anything serious.
UP NEXT
Mariners LHP Roenis Elias (10-12) matches up against Houston’s Collin McHugh.
ROTATION PREPARATION
McClendon has set his rotation through the end of the season. He’s going with Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Chris Young, Roenis Elias and James Paxton. By design, Hernandez will be in line to pitch the season’s final game. Or, if clinched beforehand, he could switch to start a wild-card game.
SPOILER ALERT
The Astros can play playoff spoilers down the stretch. They face Seattle (five games), the Los Angeles Angles (three) and Cleveland (four) over the next 13 days. Interim manager Tom Lawless would like to give his September callups more playing time but won’t. “While we’re playing these teams in the playoff hunt, it’s not fair to everyone else. We’re going to try to win the game, bottom line,” he said.
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