McCullers comes back in fine form
SEATTLE — Lance McCullers Jr. didn’t show any signs of rust in his first start since 16 days.
The Astros’ No. 2 starter pitched like his usually dominant self for the first five innings of a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night at Safeco Field. He struck out eight, each on his curveball, and didn’t issue a walk.
Josh Reddick and Brian McCann combined to drive in all five runs in the Astros’ 51st victory of the season, incredibly matching with six days left in June the win total of the 111-loss 2013 team. These Astros (51-25) are 12-2 in games started by McCullers, who improved his ERA to 2.53.
McCullers didn’t pitch deeper into the game only because he had missed his previous two turns in the rotation while on the disabled list for lower back discomfort. He threw 76 pitches Saturday. The Astros will permit the 23-year-old righthander to throw more in his next start Friday night against the New York Yankees at Minute Maid Park.
Reddick, who has an .845 on-base plus slugging percentage in his first season as an Astro, opened the scoring with a two-run homer to straightaway center field in the third inning off Mariners starter Sam Gaviglio. The 2-0 margin stood until the sixth.
McCullers retired the first 12 batters he faced in order before Nelson Cruz reached base on a weakly hit infield single to third baseman Alex Bregman. Kyle Seager ambushed a first-pitch curveball for a double that gave the Mariners two runners in scoring position with no outs.
After a brief mound meeting with catcher Brian McCann, McCullers struck out Mitch Haniger on a full-count curveball for the pivotal first out. A Jarrod Dyson groundout to second baseman Jose Altuve cut down the lead runner in a run down between third and home. McCullers completed the fifth unscathed by striking out Taylor Motter.
McCullers’ evening ended two batters into the sixth when Carlos Ruiz doubled and Jean Segura singled. Astros manager A.J. Hinch summoned arguably his best reliever in Will Harris to face the heart of Seattle’s order. Harris struck out Ben Gamel but had a chopper by Robinson Cano bounce past a diving first baseman Yuli Gurriel for a run-scoring single.
Harris limited the damage to just the one run, though, by inducing an inning-ending double play from Cruz. The Astros broke open the game in the seventh when McCann smacked a basesloaded, two-out double that bounced out of Haniger’s glove in right field on what would have been an incredible catch.
Closer Ken Giles allowed a double and issued back-to-back-to-back twoout walks, the last with the bases loaded, before converting the save. Giles struck out former batterymate Carlos Ruiz looking to end the game.