Mariners at Astros
The Houston Astros continue to pull away in the American League West and will vie for their 13th win in 16 games when they host the Seattle Mariners on Saturday for the second of three contests between the division rivals. The Astros tied a club record as six different players homered en route to a 10-2 victory in the series opener that extended their division lead over Oakland to 8 1/2 games.
Jose Altuve homered and drove in three runs on Friday, improving to 22-for-46 with five blasts and 11 RBIs in his last 12 games while raising his career batting average against Seattle to .318. Aaron Sanchez will attempt to end a 17-game winless streak in his first start for the Astros after being acquired from Toronto on Wednesday while Seattle counters with Marco Gonzales. The Mariners have lost back-to-back contests, allowing a total of 19 runs while managing just three hits on Friday, following a season high-tying six-game winning streak during which they outscored opponents 37-15. Al-Star Daniel Vogelbach belted a two-run homer in the series opener and Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 10 games (13-for-36, three homers, seven RBIs) for Seattle, which has dropped 10 of 11 meetings with Houston this year.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, ROOT Northwest (Seattle), AT&T SportsNet-Southwest (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH Marco Gonzales (12-8, 4.21 ERA) vs. Astros RH Aaron Sanchez (3-14, 6.07)
Gonzales has posted three quality starts in his last four turns, allowing five runs over 22 innings in the trio of victories. The 27-year-old Gonzaga product, who has been a little better on the road (5-4, 3.62 ERA) than at home (7-4, 4.76), needs one strikeout to reach 100 for the second straight season. Alex Bregman is 6-for-11 with two extra-base hits versus Gonzales, who is 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two starts against Houston in 2019.
Sanchez missed a chance to end his lengthy winless streak Sunday against Tampa Bay as he permitted four runs over 5 2/3 innings before Toronto's bullpen coughed up the lead. The 27-year-old Californian posted a 15-2 record in 2016 before going a combined 5-9 over a pair of injury-hampered seasons and struggling after a 3-1 start this year. Seager is 3-for-8 with a homer against Sanchez, who is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA in his career versus Seattle.
WALK-OFFS
1. Mariners C Omar Narvaez, who sat out the series opener, is 5-for-10 with two walks in his last four contests.
2. Houston C Robinson Chirinos, who has belted four homers while going 7-for-23 against Seattle this year, also was rested on Friday.
3. Seattle 1B-2B Austin Nola has recorded multiple hits in four of his last seven games.