HOUSTON — Robinson Cano hit his second homer of the game with two out in the 11th inning, lifting the Seattle Mariners over the Houston Astros 4-3 Monday night.
Houston scored two runs in the ninth, but Cano sent a slider from Luke Gregerson (4-3) into the second deck in right field for what proved to be the winning run.
The victory moves Seattle two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card and drops Houston, which has lost four of five, 3 1/2 games back in the race
Drew Storen (4-3) pitched a perfect 10th for the win. Nick Vincent allowed consecutive singles to Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa in the 11th before retiring the next two batters for his third save.
Cano doubled in the first inning and his home run in the third made it 2-0. He’s been great against the Astros this season with eight homers, four doubles and 22 RBI in 17 games.
The Astros trailed 3-1 entering the ninth when George Springer singled off Edwin Diaz with no outs before advancing to third on a single by Marwin Gonzalez. Altuve grounded into a force out that left Gonzalez out at second and scored Springer to get Houston within 3-2.
Altuve stole second base before the Astros tied it on an RBI single by Correa.
Evan Gattis followed with a single to leave Correa at third, but Diaz retired the next two batters to send it to the 10th.
Mariners went up 1-0 when Seth Smith scored on a groundout by Nelson Cruz in the first.
Cano made it 2-0 when he hit his 34th home run into the bullpen in right-center field with one out in the third.
The Astros hadn’t had a baserunner since the second inning when Jake Marisnick drew a walk with one out in the sixth inning. The Astros cut the lead to 2-1 on an RBI double by Gonzalez with two outs. Altuve singled after that, but Gonzalez was thrown out at home on the play to end the inning.
The Mariners added a run in the ninth inning when Ben Gamel bunted and reliever James Hoyt badly overthrew first base for an error that allowed Ketel Marte to score from first. The play elicited a smattering of boos from the sparse crowd.
Hisashi Iwakuma allowed four hits and one run in six innings to bounce back after allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last start.
Houston starter Collin McHugh yielded six hits, two runs and struck out six in seven innings.
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