Perhaps what the Seattle Mariners needed most Friday was a laugh.
Saddled with a five-game losing streak, the Mariners returned home to face Houston with the team unveiling a statue of franchise legend Ichiro Suzuki outside T-Mobile Park before the opener of a four-game series.
As fellow Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez pulled off the tarp to unveil the work of art, the bat that Suzuki holds in the statue snapped.
“I didn’t think Mariano (Rivera) would come out here,” Suzuki said with a smile, referring to the former New York Yankees closer, “and break the bat.”
As Suzuki saw it, the broken bat was fitting.
“In the Hall of Fame, I was short one vote,” Suzuki said. “Today, the bat was broke. It kind of lets me know that I’m still not there, that I still need to keep going. So, this is a good example of that.”
The Mariners seemed inspired, scoring three first-inning runs in Suzuki style without hitting the ball out of the infield. Seattle used four bases on balls, a hit batter and an infield single to take a 3-0 lead off Houston starter Tatsuya Imai, who lasted just one-third of an inning.
The Astros tied the score in the second on a three-run double by Christian Vazquez before Seattle’s Randy Arozarena hit a mammoth two-run homer into the second deck in left field in the fifth.
The Mariners tacked on four runs in the seventh, which were needed after Houston’s Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run shot to right in the eighth.
Seattle’s Matt Brash came in and got an inning-ending double play to close the eighth and Andres Munoz escaped a ninth-inning jam to earn his first save of the season.
Astros manager Joe Espada wasn’t happy with the 10 bases on balls issued by his beleaguered pitching staff, but considered it a moral victory that his team forced Seattle to use their highest-leverage relievers in what looked like a blowout.
“Just having a tough time as a unit, throwing strikes,” Espada said. “We were working to make our adjustments but it takes a toll on our staff and our offense keeps grinding … the fact that we got Brash and Muñoz in that game, I take that as a win for us. Four-game series, you get two of their high-leverage pitchers in the game. Kept fighting till the end.”
Saturday’s pitching matchup is scheduled to feature a pair of right-handers in Houston’s Lance McCullers Jr. (1-0, 3.27) and Seattle’s Luis Castillo (0-0, 2.79).
Both pitched well in their first starts of the season but failed to make it through five innings the last time out in extra-inning defeats.
McCullers beat Boston 8-1 on March 30 as he allowed one run on four hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts. He took a no-decision Sunday in a game the Astros lost 12-10 in 10 innings to the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif., when he lasted just four innings, giving up three runs. McCullers is 10-3 with a 3.11 ERA in 20 career starts against Seattle.
Castillo pitched six scoreless innings but didn’t get a decision in his first start of the season against the New York Yankees in a game the Mariners eventually won 2-1. He went 3 2/3 innings Sunday against the host Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits in an 8-7 loss in 11 innings. Castillo is 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA in nine previous starts versus Houston.
-Field Level Media
