If there’s any good news for the Mariners after Saturday’s 8-6 loss at Houston — and you have look hard even with their late not-enough rally — it might be that they have only one more game this season against the Astros.
A ravaged rotation isn’t the only reason the Mariners now need a calvary charge over the final two weeks to avoid extending their MLB-worst postseason drought to 16 seasons.
Their predicament also stems from their inability to handle the Astros.
Saturday’s loss shoved the Mariners back under .500 at 74-75 and, with just 13 games remaining, left them four games behind Minnesota in the race for the American League’s final wild-card spot (pending the outcome of the Twins’ game later in the day).
It also marked the Mariners’ fifth straight loss to the Astros in September while were trying to mount a postseason push. Overall, Houston holds a 13-5 edge in the season series.
Do the math.
The Mariners are eight games under .500 against the Astros, and seven games over .500 against everyone else. Their postseason hopes are teetering simply because of Houston.
Saturday unfolded in familiar fashion. The Mariners mustered little against Astros ace Dallas Keuchel, who improved to 13-4 by yielding just one run and four hits in six innings.
Once Keuchel exited, the Mariners, trailing 7-1, stormed back against the Houston relievers Francis Martes and Tony Sipp by scoring four runs in the eighth inning. They had the go-ahead run at the plate with no outs.
Then the Mariners flatlined against Joe Musgrove, who struck out pinch-hitters Mike Zunino and Ben Gamel before retiring Carlos Ruiz on a soft liner to short.
“We got something going in the eighth,” manager Scott Servais said. “Our hole was just a little too big to get out of it.”
Houston answered with one run later in the inning against Ryan Garton before Musgrove closed out the game for his first career save.
Bottom line: Another loss to the Astros, who clinched no worse than a tie for the American League West Division pennant. A loss later Saturday by the Los Angeles Angels would enable the Astros to clinch the title outright.
Mariners right-hander Erasmo Ramirez (5-6) entered the day with a streak of six straight quality starts, but a bit of bad luck ended that run when the Astros struck for four two-out runs in the second inning.
Carlos Beltran led off with a single on a grounder that caromed off first base. Ramirez then walked Alex Bregman but had a chance to escape unharmed after retiring the next two batters.
But Derek Fisher painted the left-field foul line with an inside-out swing for an RBI double, and George Springer followed with a two-run single into center field before Josh Reddick drove an RBI double into the left-field gap for a 4-0 lead.
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