Balanced attack seals emphatic series win

SEATTLE -- By blowing a seven-run lead on Monday to the Mariners -- the first time Houston had blown a lead that large and lost a game in more than 20 years -- the Astros’ need for bullpen help was magnified. It also appeared to ignite the club’s killer instinct.

The Astros held off a late charge from the Mariners and delivered a tight win on Tuesday before blowing out Seattle, 11-4, Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park. The Astros scored in every inning except the first and the ninth and didn’t allow the Mariners a chance to get back in the game.

The Astros, who became the first team in the American League to reach 63 wins, got homers from Yuli Gurriel and Kyle Tucker and three RBIs from Aledmys Díaz. They scored 27 runs on 40 hits in the three games against Seattle, with Monday’s stunning loss preventing Houston from sweeping a road series.

“That’s what our offense is capable of doing, especially now we have Díaz back,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “Like I said the other day, you hate to lose that game [Monday] the way we did but that ignited our guys to score and keep scoring as much as anything. The other day we scored six [in the first inning] and only got two more after that. You hate to have a wake-up call like that. That was a good and a bad thing that happened to us the other day. You love to see the guys hitting and love to see them keep hitting.”

Not only does Houston leave Seattle with momentum heading into two crucial road series at the Giants and the Dodgers, but the Astros addressed their bullpen shortcomings by acquiring relievers Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero from the Mariners and Yimi García from the Marlins in the last two days.

“I think that game let [general manager] James [Click] know that maybe we need to make some trades and they did,” said shortstop Carlos Correa, who went 3-for-4. “We’re very happy to get Graveman and Montero. I’m happy they’re here, and we don’t have to face them anymore.”

Astros starter Jake Odorizzi (4-5) rolled through five innings and took the mound in the sixth with an 8-0 lead. He lasted only four more batters, though, getting pulled after homers by Kyle Seager and Abraham Toro -- his second in as many days against his former team -- cut the lead to 8-3.

“Good teams have the ability to get past bad games,” Odorizzi said, referencing Monday’s loss. “That’s the epitome of a bad one when it comes down to it. To come out and win that series, especially how hot they came in -- they had won a lot of big games -- for us to flush that [loss Monday] and come back and make a statement, that’s really important and good to see. There wasn’t a lot of panic out of anybody.”

The Mariners, as they had done the two previous games, tried to mount a late rally Wednesday. Seattle had the potential tying run on deck with the bases loaded in the seventh, but Bryan Abreu came into the game and struck out Tom Murphy looking on a 3-2 pitch. Tucker’s two-run homer in the eighth ended any thoughts of another Mariners comeback.

“They were threatening a couple of times to come back,” Baker said. “That was huge and that was a big, quality 3-2 breaking ball with the bases loaded. Got us out of trouble.”