Houston 11, Seattle 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, May 2, 2015
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Temperature:
79°
Umpires:
Home -
Ron Kulpa, 1B -
Brian Knight, 2B -
Victor Carapazza, 3B -
Larry Vanover
Attendance:
24435
By The Sports Xchange
HOUSTON -- Behind a power display that produced five home runs, including back-to-back blasts in the third and fourth innings, the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to nine games with an 11-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.
Evan Gattis, Colby Rasmus, Jose Altuve, Luis Valbuena and Hank Conger all went deep for the Astros (17-7), providing ample run support for right-hander Collin McHugh.
McHugh (4-0) surrendered four homers, but they were solo shots as the Mariners (10-14) failed to keep pace with the Astros' offensive barrage. Seattle right fielder Nelson Cruz cranked two of the Mariners' four homers for his 16th career multi-homer game.
The nine combined home runs were a Minute Maid Park record. Cruz hit his 12th and 13th homers of the season in the second and sixth innings. Logan Morrison and Mike Zunino each hit their third homers of 2015.
What little momentum the Mariners generated with two home runs in the ninth inning on Friday night manifested against McHugh in the first inning with Cruz, Morrison and Zunino belting solo home runs to give Seattle a 3-0 lead.
Cruz and Morrison homered in their previous at-bats, and the Zunino blast appeared to frustrate McHugh, who entered his fifth start without having allowed a home run this season.
But the Astros were quick to pick up McHugh, tagging Mariners right-hander Taijuan Walker for two runs in the second inning before going full throttle offensively in the third and fourth to chase Walker.
Walker was 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his career against the Astros.
But after first baseman Marwin Gonzalez and center fielder Jake Marisnick had RBIs in the second inning, the Astros clubbed back-to-back home runs in the third, with Gattis providing a 4-3 lead with his two-run shot. Rasmus upped the lead to 5-3 one at-bat later.
The wheels came off for Walker in the fourth when he allowed consecutive singles to open the inning before Altuve cranked a three-run homer, his third home run of the season, to left-center field.
Walker departed having allowed eight runs (seven earned), nine hits (including three homers) and one walk with two strikeouts. He did not get an out in the fourth before giving way to right-hander Yoervis Medina, who promptly surrendered a home run to Valbuena for a 9-3 Houston lead.
NOTES: Mariners RHP Tom Wilhelmsen will throw another bullpen session on Sunday after completing a 25-pitch session on Friday. Wilhelmsen (0-0, 6.75 ERA) was placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 13 with a hyperextended right elbow. ... Astros manager A.J. Hinch announced that RHP Samuel Deduno will start Wednesday against the Texas Rangers. Deduno worked four innings in a spot start Friday night, allowing one run on three hits and two walks, with four strikeouts. ... Right-handed-hitting LF Rickie Weeks, not lefty-hitting Dustin Ackley, was in the starting lineup against Astros RHP Collin McHugh. Ackley is batting .000/.133/.000 in 15 plate appearances against McHugh and is just 5-for-41 (.122) since April 14.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Seattle
|
7 |
4 |
19 |
.212 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| Houston
|
14 |
5 |
33 |
.368 |
12 |
4 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
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