Houston holds on to a lead

After partnering for trade, Astros even series with Mariners with a win

Astros' Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel
Houston built an early lead again on Tuesday and this time held it to even the series against the Mariners. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Houston built an early lead again on Tuesday and this time held it to even the series against the Mariners.

Fresh off an afternoon trade between the two teams which sent Abraham Toro and Joe Smith from Houston in return for Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero from Seattle, and after the major comeback by the Mariners to take the opener on Monday night, the Astros got back to work on Tuesday night with Lance McCullers Jr. on the mound trying to even the series.

Final Score: Astros 8, Mariners 6

Astros' Record: 62-40, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Lance McCullers Jr. (8-2)

Losing Pitcher: Chris Flexen (9-5)

Astros build another large early lead

Much like the night before, the Astros set the tone in the top of the first inning to grab an early lead with a big inning, getting two singles to set up a three-run homer by Yordan Alvarez to make it 3-0. Unlike Monday's game, however, Seattle wasted no time responding, getting a two-run blast of their own off of Lance McCullers Jr. in the bottom of the inning, making it a one-run game at 3-2.

The Astros continued to give Seattle's starter Chris Flexen trouble in the top of the fourth, putting together another multi-run inning with a two-RBI double by Myles Straw and RBI single by Martin Maldonado, who would later score on a wild pitch, making it 7-2. With the early transition to their bullpen in the top of the fifth, Seattle allowed another run to make it a six-run game after an RBI single by Aledmyz Diaz made it 8-2.

McCullers Jr. goes six but allows four

Meanwhile, McCullers Jr. was rebounding well from the early homer he allowed, allowing just two baserunners in the second through fifth innings, one on a single and one on a walk. He remained in the game in the bottom of the sixth, where after a quick first out would falter by loading the bases on a single and two walks to set up a two-RBI single to make it a four-run game. Even with his pitch count surpassing 100, Houston stuck with him, and he would finish the frame with his seventh and eighth strikeout of the night to end the frame. His final line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 109 P.

Toro homers for his new team, but Astros hold on to even the series

First out of Houston's bullpen was Blake Taylor in the bottom of the seventh, who posted a 1-2-3 frame on 15 pitches to maintain the lead. Next was Ryne Stanek in the bottom of the eighth, and he did the same as Taylor, sitting down the Mariners in order, sending the game to the ninth. After being unavailable the night prior due to pitching the two days prior, Ryan Pressly entered to close things out in the bottom of the ninth, coming in with the score still 8-4.

After a leadoff single, the Mariners brought in Abraham Toro, acquired from Houston earlier in the day, to pinch-hit. He trimmed the lead to two runs with his first homer for his new team, a two-run blast to make it 8-6. Despite putting two more on base on a walk and single, Pressly would get the final out to close out the win for Houston to even the series.

Up Next: The two teams will wrap up this series with a 2:40 PM afternoon start on Wednesday for the rubber game. The Astros will hand the ball to Jake Odorizzi (3-5, 4.23 ERA), while the Mariners will start Yusei Kikuchi (6-5, 3.95 ERA).

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
Houston defeats TCU, 60-45. Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images.

Kelvin Sampson knows how to win a Big 12 Tournament, leading Oklahoma to three straight titles in the early 2000s.

He has Houston two wins away from its own.

The Cougars ramped up their suffocating defense on TCU, Emanuel Sharp had 14 points and Big 12 player of the year Jamal Shead scored 12, and the No. 1 team in the nation rolled to a 60-45 victory on Thursday in the quarterfinal round of its first tournament in its new league.

“They're all good. All the teams are really good,” said Sampson, whose team was beaten soundly on the boards by the bigger Horned Frogs yet still won with ease. “You win by 15, you move on to the next one, man.”

In this case No. 25 Texas Tech, which romped to a victory over No. 20 BYU earlier in the day.

“Texas Tech is good enough to beat us,” Sampson said. “We're going to have to play a lot better than we did today.”

Hard to imagine it on the defensive end, where the No. 1 seed Cougars (29-3) held eighth-seeded TCU without a point for nearly 10 minutes to start the game and was never threatened the rest of the way in winning its 10th consecutive game.

Micah Peavy had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Horned Frogs (21-12). Leading scorer Emanuel Miller followed up his 26-point performance in a second-round win over Oklahoma by scoring just three points on 1-for-10 shooting.

TCU wound up going 17 of 73 from the field (23.3%) and 2 of 20 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“It wasn't our day to make shots,” Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon said. “I don't know how many were tough shots. I thought there were layups, we had a couple of kickout 3s off rebounds. It's probably something to do with them, because you can't take away from what they've done game after game. Their numbers are off the charts.”

Longtime rivals in the old Southwest Conference, the Cougars and Horned Frogs were meeting for the first time in the Big 12 Tournament — otherwise known as a neutral floor, where Houston had never lost in eight other games with TCU.

The Cougars never left a doubt that it would be nine.

Fresh off a 30-point blowout of Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champs scored the first 16 points of the game, shutting down Dixon's team with the kind of in-your-shorts defense that has become the Cougars' hallmark over the years.

TCU missed its first 16 field-goal attempts and did not score until Peavy's bucket with 10:25 left in the first half.

“That's a whole other level of not making shots,” Dixon said.

Even when Houston went through its own offensive dry spell in the first half, it continually hounded the Horned Frogs. They were 3 for 23 with six turnovers at one point, and during one possession, they missed four consecutive shots at the rim.

TCU trailed 31-15 at halftime, missed its first eight shots of the second half and never threatened the rest of the way.

“The past four years I've been here,” Shead said, “we've approached every game the same. We said at the beginning of the year the Big 12 was a lot harder competition at a consistent level, but our preparation is usually the same. It's just about going out there and executing what we work on.”

UP NEXT

TCU should be safely in the NCAA Tournament field for the third consecutive year.

Houston routed the Red Raiders 77-54 in January, when Shead poured in 29 points in the win.

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome