Lefty survives scare from liner but gets hit hard in lopsided loss
Dallas Keuchel started Wednesday night by taking a comebacker off his head. Then sleight of hand robbed the Astros starter of a potential comeback. In between and after, Houston’s offense could not strike an extra-base hit or score on any of the seven pitchers the Seattle Mariners deployed.
The Mariners (84-69) delivered a 9-0 trouncing inside Minute Maid Park. The Astros (95-57) put up a brief fight. It was their worst loss in what otherwise has been a strong September.
“Within the first five pitches, we were in a mess and never really recovered from it,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
An ugly first inning turned scary for Keuchel (11-11, 3.71 ERA). He allowed three runs on four screaming hits.
Mitch Haniger sent the first pitch into the outfield at 109 mph. Jean Segura ripped a double. Robinson Cano lined a single at left
fielder Josh Reddick’s shoetops.
Kyle Seager delivered the most threating blow. He lined a comebacker 99 mph off his bat. The ball struck Keuchel in the side of his head and ricocheted into right field.
Keuchel not only shook off the impact, after satisfying the training staff, he smiled at Seager and winked to let everyone know that the rough start did not rattle him.
“Kinda just took one off the dome,” he said. “We’ll see how I feel tomorrow, but so far, so good.”
Hinch hesitated to watch video of the ball hitting Keuchel’s head. The manager later said he felt some regret in leaving Keuchel in the game because the effects of a concussion could arise later. But team doctors medically evaluated Keuchel between innings.
“It could have been extremely terrible for him,” Hinch said.
Back on track briefly
Oddly, the comebacker appeared to knock Keuchel into alignment for the next four innings.
“I guess getting hit in the head was the best thing for me,” Keuchel said.
He did not allow another baserunner until the fifth. Then the Mariners ran away with the game.
Haniger reached with a walk. Cano hit a double into the leftcenter gap and advanced to third on a relay throw to home plate. Catcher Martin Maldonado received the ball in time for an easy tag out, but Haniger scored with a cunning slide.
Haniger pulled his left hand out of Maldonado’s reach. Maldonado whiffed on the tag and stood up, giving Haniger the opportunity to reach back for the plate with his right hand.
Nelson Cruz, who had not recorded a hit in the series, hammered the final nail in Keuchel’s dying chances to stay in the game with an RBI single to right.
Hinch removed Keuchel mercifully after 87 pitches. The southpaw allowed five runs in five innings.
The Mariners took the season series 10-9 and won seven out of nine games in Houston. Keuchel finished with a 1-3 record and 4.81 ERA against Seattle.
“When you see a guy that much, you have a pretty good idea of how he’s going to attack you,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais, who used a recent innovation to make up for a shorthanded starting staff.
The Tampa Bay Rays seemed more desperate than wily when reliever Sergio Romo started a game earlier this season, innovating the role of “opener” in a sport that has been around for 120 years. A full season sample size has shown the experiment to be a sensible approach for teams riddled with injuries or thin on talent.
It worked ideally for the Mariners on Wednesday. With ace lefthander James Paxton working his way back from pneumonia, seven relievers stitched together the shutout. Casey Lawrence earned the win for his three innings of work.
Five singles and three walks were not enough for Houston to break through.
With two runners on and one out in the fifth inning, the Astros had their best opportunity to cut a 5-0 deficit with one swing. Hinch got aggressive. The manager pinch-hit Tony Kemp for Maldonado and Evan Gattis for Jake Marisnick. Neither pinch-hitter came through.
Fans, seeming as desperate for runs as the home team, bolted up from their seats when Alex Bregman lifted a ball toward the Crawford Boxes and garnished his swing with a one-handed finish. The signs of a home run were there. The solid contact was not. The fly out landed short of the left field warning track.
The crowd roared again when, with two runners on base, Tyler White had a chance to cleave the score in half. But cheers turned to groans when White’s soaring fly ball lost steam and fell for an out.
More offensive fireworks
Seattle did not let up on Houston’s bullpen. Kyle Seager launched a towering blast off Brad Peacock. His 22nd home run catapulted with such immediate force that Reddick, who moved to right field, took one step before realizing the ball was headed for the second deck.
Haniger homered where Bregman had not. The Mariners burgeoning star outfielder ripped his 26th homer deep into the Crawford Boxes off rookie Dean Deetz. After two more hits and another run that made the score 8-0, droves of fans turned their backs to Deetz and headed for the exits.
Hinch emptied the bench in the eighth inning. When executing pitches was not an effective strategy for lefthander Cionel Perez, another rookie reliever, he tried to will Guillermo Heredia’s fifth home run back on to the field. He watched the ball soar, arched his back and leaned back on his heels.
By then, the Astros could not do anything to contain the blowout. It, like the home run Perez could not reel back, was a forgone conclusion.
Hinch, usually hell-bent on expressing positivity, made a rare concession.
“We just had no answer tonight,” he said. “And I’m not going to make one up.”