After homer drought, LoMo breaks out

HOUSTON -- It had been a month for Logan Morrison since his last long ball, but the Mariners' first baseman didn't wait that long to repeat the feat as he blasted two home runs in Seattle's 8-1 win over the Astros on Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

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Morrison launched a three-run blast to cap Seattle's five-run first, then added a two-run blow in the third as the Mariners issued a little payback after Friday's 10-0 blowout loss. Both came off Collin McHugh.

While Morrison had a recent 16-game hitting streak and continued hiking his batting average to .258 with a 2-for-5 night, he'd gone 28 games without a homer dating back to May 12. His back-to-back bolts lifted his season total to eight and his five-RBI day increased that total to 22.

He said it was nice to square up and drive a couple balls and impact a game and not just a box score.

"I was getting lucky," Morrison said of his recent run. "It's good to feel a little better today. But I still have to be more consistent. The first two were good, but I might as well have hung it up after that. I need to get better and a week, a game, doesn't make a season. It's all about being consistent. No. 22 [Robinson Cano] has done that for 10 years. Learn from him, learn from [Nelson] Cruz. It's a long season and you have to be consistent, not only with your mechanics, but your approach, and have that killer instinct."

Morrison is now 4-for-13 in his career against McHugh, with all four hits being home runs. He said he doesn't know why he's had success against the right-hander.

"Shoot, I feel like the first couple times I faced him it was not a fun at-bat," he said. "At the end of the day, it's not about what pitchers are doing to me, it's what I'm doing in the box, what I'm thinking. If I'm swinging at strikes and letting balls go, if I get a good pitch to hit and foul it off, that's giving a pitcher second life.

"I did it against [Luke] Gregerson in my last at-bat and it didn't work out for me. I've got to hit the pitches I'm supposed to hit and let the pitches go that are balls."

Morrison and the Mariners echoed their manager's message that there is still considerable work to be done on a team struggling at 28-34. But it was nice to put up eight quick runs after not scoring for 20 straight innings and losing 10-0 with Felix Hernandez on the hill the night before.

"It's unrealistic to think it's going to happen every day, but at the same time it has to happen more often for us," Morrison said of the offensive outburst. "We have a great team and we know it. We have to find a way to be more consistent, not only with our at-bats but with our production. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and we'll continue on with it tomorrow, get out of here with two and go see what the Giants have got."