Kids propel Mariners into Wild Card position

HOUSTON -- As Julio Rodríguez skipped into a high-five rounding the bases on a homer and Bryce Miller euro-stepped his way to 6 1/3 scoreless innings, the youth and enthusiasm of the Mariners certainly showed Friday night.

So did the talent. Seattle passed Toronto to move into the third American League Wild Card position in a 2-0 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park, almost solely due to the performances of Rodríguez and Miller.

Rodríguez continued his torrid stretch at the plate, following his record-setting 5-for-5 performance by going 4-for-5 and homering in his second straight game. The center fielder set a franchise record with his third consecutive four-hit game just one day after totaling the most hits in a single series in Mariners history with 12.

“I’ve been watching Major League Baseball for a really, really long time,” manager Scott Servais said. “Julio is going really good, as good as I’ve seen a player. The power, the speed, driving the ball. It doesn’t matter what pitch it is.

“He’s on fire, and we talked about when he gets on fire, he can really carry us. It’s fun to watch right now.”

Before Houston’s fans could settle into their seats, Rodríguez led off the game with a single. He then hit a towering, Statcast-projected 414-foot shot that landed on the train tracks on the first pitch of the third inning. He added two singles and two stolen bases, and even when he did seem to hit into a certain out, Jeremy Peña’s error allowed him to reach and wreak havoc on the bases.

Not to be outdone in front of his friends and family, Miller tossed his best start since the All-Star break against the team he grew up rooting for. The New Braunfels, Texas, product allowed just two hits and one walk on 82 pitches (50 strikes).

After Miller’s second career start on May 7 -- when he blanked the Astros across six innings by throwing his four-seamer for 60 of his 85 pitches -- Houston understandably came out looking for that pitch early and often.

“Their guy, it’s the second game he’s pitched well against us,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “We’ve got to figure him out.”

But the rookie, who said he has gotten more comfortable with his sinker over the past couple of weeks, threw it a season-high 27 times to keep the Astros off-balance.

“I threw so many four-seams the first two or three months that they’re trying to get on top of it,” Miller said. “If there’s a lot of righties in the lineup, it’s a really good pitch. So today, there were a lot of righties, so I threw it.

“Going into the game, [catcher] Cal [Raleigh] was like, ‘We might throw a lot of sinkers today.’ I was like, ‘Whatever.’ And it was good. It worked out.”

After making a slick snag of a ground ball to end the third inning and escaping his only runners in scoring position in the fourth, Miller imitated a euro step as he walked to the dugout.

“It’s cool to come down and play close to home,” the former Texas A&M pitcher said. “I got a lot of high school and college friends that live over here, and then we’re only three hours from my hometown [Mount Pleasant]. It’s a lot of fun.”

His performance, along with Justin Topa’s scoreless relief outing, meant the Mariners improved to 6-2 against their AL West rivals despite going 0-for-17 with nine strikeouts with runners in scoring position.

The win wasn’t without a late scare, either, as three defensive miscues late put runners on first and third with one out behind Andrés Muñoz. But Seattle’s closer settled in and got a double-play ground ball from Yainer Diaz.

The Mariners now need just one more win in their remaining five games vs. Houston to take the important head-to-head tiebreaker. Seattle has historically struggled at Minute Maid Park (7-32 from 2019-22, including the postseason).

But as “Deep in the Heart of Texas” played during the seventh-inning stretch on Friday night, Rodríguez and Miller certainly proved that the Mariners’ stars are indeed bright.