HOUSTON — Robinson Cano continued his assault on Houston Astros pitching Saturday night with four more hits, including a tie-breaking home run in the 10th inning that lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 victory at Minute Maid Park.
That makes four homers and 16 RBI for Cano while batting .538 (14-for-26) in six games against the Astros.
“You know me,” he said through a wide smile. “It’s all about winning games and being able take advantage of a situation like that. Being able to hit a homer, it makes it more special.”
This was special.
Cano’s second homer of the game came after the Astros forced extra innings on Luis Valbuena’s leadoff homer in the ninth inning against Steve Cishek.
“I schlepped a fastball, too much middle,” Cishek said. “I knew I was going back out there no matter what. I knew we were thin (in the bullpen). So just to have that opportunity to get the team a win was all I wanted.
“Just another shot.”
Manager Scott Servais said he called Cano’s second shot: “It’s crazy. We’re sitting on the bench and I said to (bench coach Tim Bogar), ‘Man, he needs to hit one into the Crawford Boxes.’ I’ll be danged if he didn’t do it.”
A young Houston fan also predicted it while Cano was in the on-deck circle.
“He had on an Astros shirt,” Cano said. “And he was like, ‘I know you’re going to hit a homer, so can I have your bat?’ I hit the homer. So I signed one. Not the same one, but I gave him a bat.”
The Astros admit they have no answers.
“The rest of the league is not having a tremendous amount of success against him,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. “But he certainly has our number.
“We’ve thrown him hard, we’ve thrown him soft and he’s found ways to do damage. A lot of his RBIs are against us. We haven’t solved the challenge.”
Cano’s game-winner was a 359-foot drive to left field against Astros lefty Tony Sipp (0-2) on a 1-2 fastball.
“He’s really tough,” Cano said. “I was just looking for something up because I know he has a nasty split and a slider, too. I wasn’t looking for anything other than something over the plate.”
But when he connected, Cano knew it was gone. So did the rest of the dugout.
“Just pure excitement,” said third baseman Kyle Seager who, like Cano, had a homer earlier in the game against Houston starter Dallas Keuchel.
“It really doesn’t matter who’s throwing right now to him, you feel really good about where he’s at. That’s the guy you want up in that situation — really in any situation. So just a huge shot of life right there for us.”
Given a second chance, Cishek (2-1) breezed through the Astros in the 10th inning. The Mariners won for the 16th time in 22 games, won their sixth straight one-run decision and improved to 18-12.
Actually, it shouldn’t have been this tough.
The Mariners squandered too many prime scoring opportunities in the late innings and left their bullpen with no margin for error as it tried to close out a one-run victory.
After Nathan Karns held the Astros to one run in 6 1/3 innings, Nick Vincent, Vidal Nuno and Joel Peralta nursed a 2-1 lead into the ninth for Cishek, who gave up Valbuena’s 435-foot bomb.
It was Cishek’s first blown save in 10 chances.
“I make a mistake, they tie it up,” he said, “it’s easy to just say, ‘Oh, we blew it,’ and kind of tuck your tail between your legs. But not this team. We just keep grinding it out and it’s really fun to be a part of it.
“Robby is just on a tear right now.”
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