Righthander gets hit hard, then tossed after balk call
Given his dominance through 24 starts, Justin Verlander set an expectation that he would have a favorable chance Thursday night against the Mariners to earn the 200th win of his Hall-of-Fame-caliber career.
“We have not had many games where we’ve come out and he hasn’t given us a huge chance to win,” manager A.J. Hinch said before the game. “Not just a good chance, but a dominant chance to win.”
He did not give the Astros
much of a chance to win after two innings against the Mariners.
Instead of mounting a historic victory, the Astros lost 8-6 because Verlander
pitched one of the worst games of his life and, certainly, his worst since the franchise-changing trade that brought him to Houston on Aug. 31 last season.
He allowed six earned runs on seven hits to put the Astros in a 6-0 hole. Then he got ejected before the third inning for arguing with home plate umpire Nic Lentz.
To begin the game, Verlander gave up three runs on four consecutive hits. The Mariners batted for the cycle in reverse order: a leadoff home run by Mitch Haniger — Verlander also allowed a leadoff homer in his last start — a triple up the right field line by Denard Span, a ground-rule double by Jean Segura and a single by Nelson Cruz.
Verlander shrugged off the rough stretch and seemed to find a rhythm, until the top three batters in the Mariners’ lineup punished him for his mistakes again with extra-base hits.
Haniger, who had been hitless in eight at-bats against Verlander before Thursday, doubled to keep the second inning alive.
The crowd erupted when Verlander pulled off what appeared to be an inning-ending pick off of Haniger. But as the Astros trotted toward the dugout, the home plate umpire halted them and waved off the play.
Lentz then motioned for Haniger to advance to third and indicated that Verlander opened up his front shoulder for a balk.
Verlander placed his mitt over his mouth to mask the choice words he offered Lentz.
The balk reversed the course of the inning, sapping whatever momentum Verlander had regained and swinging it in the Mariners’ favor.
Verlander gave up back-toback
home runs on pitches near the center of the zone to Span and Segura.
Haniger finished the game with four hits. He, Span and Segura went 10-for-11.
The six earned runs were the most Verlander had surrendered since July 2 of last year.
According to Hinch, Verlander went into the clubhouse to review video of the balk and returned to the dugout more emphatic that Lentz made a bad call.
Verlander got ejected when he continued to argue with Lentz from the dugout.
Brad Peacock struck out five batters in two innings to keep the score 6-2. Will Harris allowed two runs in two innings to make it 8-2.
Leads of four and six runs proved plentiful for Mariners’ starter James Paxton.
If the Astros could not celebrate win No. 200 for Verlander, they could feel better about roughing up Paxton more than they had all season.
The towering lefty ace had suppressed the Astros to one run or fewer in each of his three previous starts.
With Jose Altuve (right knee), Carlos Correa (back) and George Springer (left thumb) still mending their injuries, Marwin Gonzalez and Tony Kemp more than doubled Houston’s previous output against Paxton.
Gonzalez drove a two-run single to left in the third. Kemp went 3-for-3 with two RBIs off Paxton.
Kemp pushed the ace to a season-high 116 pitches and chased him with a two-out bases-loaded single in the sixth.
Kemp cut the Mariners’ lead to 8-4, but Nick Vincent came in to end stifle any potential for a rally.
He struck out Alex Bregman with a high fastball. A noticeable exodus from Minute Maid Park followed.
Fans that stayed saw competitive efforts that befit the narrowing race between American League West rivals.
After Tyler White’s RBI-double cut the Astros’ deficit to 8-5, Hinch deployed Josh Reddick and Max Stassi in pinch-hit opportunities. Mariners manager Scott Servais countered with two pitching changes.
Stassi batted with two runners on base and struck the ball hard, but righthander Alex Colome prevailed with a groundout and returned for a strong eighth inning.
“When you fall behind like that, you feel like every single opportunity you have, you have to keep chipping away, taking away their lead and inch back,” Hinch said.
The Mariners offered several openings for a comeback, but the Astros left nine on base.
When the Astros had acquired Roberto Osuna, who was suspended 75 games for an ongoing domestic violence case, on July 30, negative feedback from fans suggested the righthanded reliever might receive an inhospitable welcome 10 days later at Minute Maid Park.
But another exodus before the eighth inning left a sparse crowd for Osuna’s home debut. He allowed one hit and induced a double play for his second scoreless appearance as an Astro.
White led a final push with a
home run off Edwin Diaz before the Seattle closer converted his 43rd save.
The Mariners are seven games back and the Athletics 4½ of the AL West-leading Astros.
Thursday marked the first of seven games between the Astros and Mariners in 14 days.