Gonzalez shuts down Astros as Mariners shine 6-1
Seattle (AP) – Marco Gonzalez raised his fist and screamed after Michael Brantley hit a stadium full-count to finish eight rounds.
Passion flowed. Ace Seattle was determined to finally have the best of Astros, and in the process helped provide the final blow in finishing the Houston race at the top of AL West.
“To be honest, I just went out and attacked them, and I put them in their wake.” And Gonzales said, “When you do that with anyone, I think he blows the wind off their sails.” “I just came to win today. This is.”
Gonzalez was in control of the hill, Evan White broke a tight match with Homer by three games in the seventh game and the Mariners beat the Astros 6-1 on Monday night.
Seattle’s win clinched the AL West title for Oakland, ending Houston’s three-year tenure and making the first team the first major team to claim the first division title in this shortened season of the pandemic.
The win also improved Seattle’s meager hopes of a second-place Astros title and a guaranteed place in a playoff match. The Mariners are three games behind Houston and will remain.
“The most important thing is the current game tonight and then the game tomorrow and the next day,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker.
This was Seattle’s third victory in its past 27 encounters with Houston over the past two seasons.
Houston’s Lance McCullers Jr. didn’t let the blow through until a Tim Lopez double he won in sixth place – but things quickly collapsed for him in seventh. T France had an RBI double and the McCollers’ night ended when White turned on a hanging curved ball 2-2 and lined it up over the left field wall in his seventh home run, leading 4-0.
It was McCullers’ third start against Seattle this year, and White guessed that the home race was his first time playing ball.
“I think I walked, ground and hit many times. So being able to do that, especially with the number of strokes, is very exciting,” White said.
Seattle added two more Savior Brandon Bellak in eighth place in Kyle Seager’s two-runner single, a long fly that Brantley couldn’t track in the left corner.
Gonzalez (7-2) had nothing ineffective, but he met McCullers at setting the zeros by eliminating problems. Runners stranded Gonzalez in second, fourth, and sixth place as he walked off important pitches to create weak contact at crucial moments.
With two on and one on the sixth, Gonzalez gets a shot from Yuli Guriel and a ground exit from Kyle Tucker to escape the crowd. Jose Altov doubled eighth place by one but Gonzalez got a knockout from Alex Bergmann and hit Brantley to end the half.
Gonzalez allowed seven hits and hit six. He won five decisions in a row, defeating Astros for the first time in eight starts in his career.
Seattle coach Scott Service said: “The players know who they have succeeded in facing, and who may have faced some difficulties.” “Marco loves a challenge. He loves when people think they have his number. He’s a fighter. We saw that tonight.”
The Seattle rally began against McCullers (3-3) with Kyle Lewis who walked four stadiums and reached Seger at a tuff foul on second base. France jumped into the first court and pulled it fairly in third and Bregman’s previous attempt to dive, drove in Louis and put the runners in second and third places.
McCollars hit Jose Marmulius and Luis Torrence, but he couldn’t get the white.
McCullers allowed three strokes and seven hitting, but none of the four runs was won. Astros hadn’t scored in either of his previous two matches while McCullers was on the hill.
He said, “It’s just a rough patch. Guys have been here for me a number of times when I wasn’t throwing the ball well or whatever the situation. I wouldn’t take anyone else for these guys that we got.”
welcome home
Seattle is back home for the first time in nearly a week after five games against San Francisco and San Diego were relocated due to poor air quality in the Puget Sound area from wildfires on the West Coast. The Mariners went 1-4 in matches transferred.
Coach room
Astros: CF George Springer was out of the squad as a precaution after Baker said Springer needs a break. Baker said the data the team analyzed indicated that Springer was at risk of potential injury if he did not get a rest. Third base coach Gary Betis, who missed several matches due to groin pains, has not traveled with the team to Seattle and Baker said he was not sure if Betis would return this season. Betis was undergoing tests on Monday. First head coach Omar Lopez was coaching third base, and QC coach Chris Speer was on the job.
next one
Astros: LHP Framber Valdez (4-3, 3.82 eps) makes his 10th debut. Valdes allowed one run over 6 rounds 1/3 in his last start against Texas to seal the victory.
Mariners: RHP Ljay Newsome (0-1, 6.35 ERA) makes its fourth start. Newsom lost five games gained over three rounds in his final start against the Giants.
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