Astros Blank Mariners

Tuesday night the Houston Astros shut out the Seattle Mariners 7-0 after the Mariners had won five straight games in Houston. With the loss the Mariners are now mathematically eliminated winning the American League western division. They are still in the running for the second wild card though the chances are where the Mariners will be eliminated soon from that as well. The Mariners have 11 games remaining however with combination of five Oakland A’s wins or five Mariner losses. This means that the odds are great they won’t make it.

Mike Leake had one bad inning in this game where he gave up four runs. Marwin Gonzales who has played well this season against the Mariners hit a two-run homer against Leake to account for two of the four runs. Leake gave up another run in the seventh inning before leaving with one out.

Chasen Bradford finished off the remaining of the seventh inning without giving up a hit. Nick Rumbelow who is competing to see what he could be for the Mariner bullpen for next year didn’t have a good outing giving up two runs on a hit and two walks. He will have to do better if he has any chance.

The Mariners were unable do anything off of rookie Josh James making his second start of the season. James pitched five and one-third innings giving up four hits, walking two and striking out seven. He was able to throw his fastball up to one hundred miles per hour. He is showing that he should have a place on the Astros roster next year. He could have a place on the playoff roster as well.

The Mariners only had six hits in the game and half of them were off the bat of Robinson Cano who had two doubles out of his three hits. The other hits were singles by Mitch Haniger, Ben Gamel and catcher Chris Herrmann.

Rookie reliever Matt Festa seventh round draft pick in 2016 is expected to start Wednesday’s final game against the Houston. The Mariners are hoping to take the series against the Astros. Festa spent most of the year pitching for Double A Arkansas. He will be competing for a spot in the Mariners’ bullpen in spring training for a middle reliever spot. Like Edwin Diaz he is able to throw up to 100 miles per hour.

The Mariners will likely go with a right handed lineup as they go against lefty Dallas Keuchel who has a record of 11-10 with an era of 3.57. This will be another tough game for the Mariners to go up against the Astros. Right now the Mariners have a season record of 9-9 going into their final game against the Astros.

The Mariners have Thursday off before going against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. It will be important that the Mariners can sweep the Rangers before coming home for their final home stand of the season and the final seven games of the season. They will face the A’s for three games than the Rangers for the final four. Go M’s.