JORDAN GODWIN
Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — Two costly errors led to a seven-run inning that doomed the Houston Astros on Friday night.
In the 10-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners, the Astros allowed the first two batters of the fourth inning to reach base on infield errors, and things went downhill from there.
The game was tied at 1 before things fell apart. Logan Morrison reached on an error by Jonathan Villar and an error by Chris Carter allowed Michael Saunders to reach with no outs.
Mike Zunino followed with a three-run homer, which bounced off the wall in left-center. Brad Peacock (4-9) walked two batters with one out before Robinson Cano chased him with a single for his 900th career RBI.
Peacock allowed six hits and seven runs — two earned — with four walks in 3 1-3 innings in a game where seven of Seattle’s 10 runs were unearned.
“It’s definitely stressful,” Peacock said. “First and second, no outs. It’s tough to get out of that situation.”
Peacock was replaced by Jake Buchanan, who was greeted with Kyle Seager’s three-run homer which landed in the bullpen in right-center and pushed the lead to 8-1.
“You pitch so well for so long, but the offense isn’t working very well,” Astros interim manager Tom Lawless said. “But all of a sudden, the offense gets 13 hits tonight and scores some runs, and the defense kind of killed us.”
Major league hits leader Jose Altuve bounced back from Thursday’s 0 for 6 night with three hits to give him 216, which are the most by a second basemen since Rod Carew had 218 in 1974. It’s his 24th three-hit game this season, which sets a franchise record, and he tied Magglio Ordonez for most hits by a Venezuelan player in major league history.
Altuve was playing designated hitter for the first time in 2014 and just the eighth game of his career.
“If I’m going to get three hits every time I DH, I want to DH,” Altuve said.
Altuve’s first two hits came on two pitches, while his third hit came on the third pitch of the at-bat. One hit came on a pitch that was far outside and high for the undersized hitter who is hitting .343 to hold a lead over Victor Martinez for the AL batting title.
“The second one almost looked like it was a pitch-out,” Lawless said. “But he’s so talented with that wand in his hand. It’s impressive.”
Dustin Ackley homered in the third and eighth innings for his second career multihomer game for the Mariners, who
Ackley tied it at 1 with a home run in the third inning. His second homer was off Darin Downs and pushed the lead to 9-3 in the eighth.
Taijuan Walker (2-2) yielded eight hits and two runs with seven strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings for his third career win in his return to the rotation for injured left-hander Roenis Elias. Four of Walker’s seven career starts have come against Houston and each of his wins have been against the team.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Elias had an MRI in Seattle on Friday after feeling stiffness in his elbow. Manager Lloyd McClendon said that they won’t know the results of the MRI until Monday.
Astros: Downs left Friday night’s game after the homer to Ackley with discomfort in his right oblique.
UP NEXT
Houston’s Dallas Keuchel opposes Chris Young when the series continues on Saturday. Keuchel is first in the American League with five complete games. Young has tied his career-high in wins with 12 this season and is 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in two starts against Houston this season.
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