Verlander's dominant outing not enough to stop Mariners

SEATTLE -- The Astros knew heading into the Mariners series that runs would be at a premium, considering the quality of starting pitching Houston would be facing against the first-place team in the American League West.

Astros starters Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown and Justin Verlander have been up to the challenge -- each has turned in a quality start with 13 hits allowed and 22 strikeouts in 19 combined innings pitched -- but the Mariners have shut down Houston's offense to win the first three games of the series at T-Mobile Park.

Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford delivered the walk-off winner Wednesday night with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right field in the 10th inning, sending Seattle to a 2-1 win over the Astros, who have gone 4-7 since reeling off a season-high six wins in a row earlier this month.

"I feel like every time we come here, we play close games," Astros manager Joe Espasa said. "Good pitching on both sides... and we just couldn't get enough runs."

Verlander held the Mariners to one run and three hits, including a fifth-inning homer by Dominic Canzone, and struck out nine batters in seven innings. In his last two starts, Verlander has given up two earned runs in 13 innings with 18 strikeouts and one walk.

"I don't think you come into the series expecting to hit a lot," Verlander said. "They have an outstanding rotation, good bullpen. You know these are going to be close games. If you think you're going to come in here and bang out five, six, seven runs a game, I don't think that's realistic."

Verlander's fastball was terrific and generated 10 of his 15 whiffs. He was able to locate it well, though the velocity was down a tad on a chilly night in Seattle. His lone mistake was a four-seamer to Canzone that sailed back over the plate when he tried to go up and in.

"It was a good swing," Verlander said. "I know it leaked back a little bit -- wasn't quite up, wasn't quite in. That was a good swing by him."

Verlander has had his way with the Mariners in the past six seasons. Entering Wednesday, he was 10-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 14 starts against Seattle since the start of 2019, including a poor outing in Game 1 of the 2022 AL Division Series. The Astros had won 13 of those 14 starts.

"Obviously, he adjusted some things when he went to Houston and he's really good at staying right at the top rail," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "And his fastball always has been one of those that has big-time hop or the big high-spin fastball at the top of the zone. He's hard to get on top of, and then he mixes in the changeup. He's got a good feel. He reads the swing of hitters."

Offensively, Houston is 18-for-100 in the Seattle series with two extra-base hits, 33 strikeouts and four walks. The Astros batters, who entered Wednesday with the fewest strikeouts in the Major Leagues vs. the team with the most, struck out a season-high 14 times (the previous high was 11).

"We just faced pretty good pitching," Espada said. "I think our guys are competing, and we're grinding at-bats. It's one of those nights where we just faced a pretty good starter with pretty good stuff and we just had a tough time making adjustments."

Mariners starter George Kirby nearly matched Verlander, allowing one run while striking out eight batters in six innings. The only run Kirby allowed came on an RBI single by Jake Meyers in the fourth inning. Seattle's bullpen combined for four scoreless innings with one hit allowed and six strikeouts.

"He's one of the better pitchers in the league," Astros outfielder Chas McCormick said. "He throws his sinker in good spots and throws a bunch of strikes. I thought his slider was pretty good today. It was sweeping pretty well, and he just knows how to pinpoint his pitches. It makes it challenging to hit him because he creates a lot of soft contact. He's George Kirby. He throws a really good sinker in [and] out and really changes up your eye level and he really can throw a good slider when he wants to."