Despite defeat, Mariners show fight in H-Town

HOUSTON -- The Mariners will find out Sunday who their representative will be for the 2019 All-Star Game and outfielder Domingo Santana and first baseman Daniel Vogelbach continued making their cases, as each homered in Seattle’s 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Astros on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

• Box score

The Mariners also continued to show that their young core is ready to compete with the big boys, battling the American League West-leading Astros toe to toe for a second straight night while continuing to play better baseball than they’d shown in a miserable May.

Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel notched his second straight walkoff hit, this time an RBI double off Mariners closer Roenis Elias in the 10th after Seattle’s bullpen had thrown four innings with no hits and one walk to let the offense fight back from a 5-2 deficit. Gurriel also had the game-winning homer in a 2-1, 10-inning duel on Friday.

The Astros have taken eight of nine games from the Mariners this season and lead the AL West at 52-32, but their run differential is only plus-5 against Seattle in those nine games.

Vogelbach, part of the young crew building toward the future in Seattle, took heart in the way that the Mariners have fought Houston. The Mariners have gone 6-4 over their past 10 games and played well this road trip against the Brewers and Astros.

“It just goes to show how far we’ve come and where we’re going,” Vogelbach said. “Because that’s one of the best teams in baseball and has been for a couple years now. That’s back-to-back games we’ve given them everything they can handle.

“We had some chances and didn’t come through tonight, but this is what I think everybody envisioned we could be and are going to be. It’s just fun, and we look forward to coming to the field every day.”

Santana regained the AL lead in RBIs, with 62, as the 26-year-old right fielder launched his 18th homer of the season with a solo shot in the fifth off Astros ace Justin Verlander. Santana is batting .274 with an .840 OPS after a 1-for-5 night that also included a run-scoring groundout in the third.

“Domingo’s ball was unbelievable,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “For a right-handed hitter to go upper deck, I don’t know how many times that’s happened, but probably not too often.”

Vogelbach hit his 20th homer of the season in the seventh off standout reliever Ryan Pressly to tie the game at 5, as the burly 26-year-old raised his average to .248. He also sports a .911 OPS, with 48 RBIs after his 2-for-4 night with a walk.

"Strong man,” said Astros manager AJ Hinch. “He's hit a lot of home runs and he's hit a couple of them against us. Press tried to sneak a fastball by him after he took a couple of breaking balls. Pressly can blow it by anybody in the league. Vogelbach is a strong man with the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark every swing. Whether it's poorly executed or powerful hitter hitting the ball right on the money, either way, it's a bad result for us."

Catcher Omar Narvaez (.289 with an .826 OPS and 11 homers) would seem to be the only other potential All-Star contender for Seattle, which figures to land just one player from a team that sits in last place in the AL West, at 37-50.

The All-Star selections will be announced on ESPN starting at 2:30 p.m. PT on Sunday.

Tim Beckham also homered off Verlander, launching a two-run shot in the second that gave Seattle an early lead before Houston took advantage of a Dee Gordon error to push across five runs off Yusei Kikuchi in the bottom of that inning.

The Astros already have had three position players voted into starting spots on the All-Star squad and figure to land several more reserves and pitchers on Sunday.

Kikuchi takes no-decision

The Mariners’ rookie from Japan allowed six hits and five runs over five innings, though only three of the runs were earned, as he remained 4-5, with a 5.12 ERA.

A 39-pitch second inning proved fatal to Kikuchi, but he got no help from his defense as the normally sure-handed Gordon saw a potential inning-ending double play grounder by Josh Reddick go under his glove.

Kikuchi has had trouble overcoming such issues, and the Astros took advantage. Jake Marisnick immediately followed with a two-run double down the third-base line. Vogelbach then abandoned the bag trying to field a slow roller toward second that speedster Myles Straw turned into an infield single, as Kikuchi couldn’t get to first to cover in time. George Springer bounced an RBI single over Vogelbach’s head and Jose Altuve made it 5-2 with a sacrifice fly.

Good teams like the Astros can’t be given extra outs, and they made the Mariners pay with a five-run outburst, while ballooning Kikuchi’s pitch count after he’d zipped through an eight-pitch first.

Kikuchi put the blame on his own shoulders, however.

“Balls were finding the holes and there was an infield single in there, so I felt the momentum was swaying their way,” Kikuchi said through interpeter Jason Novak. “But if you look back at the first two hitters, I shouldn’t have walked them. That’s what started the momentum.”