HOUSTON -- The good news for the Mariners? They didn’t get no-hit on Sunday.
The bad? They managed just a Kyle Seager solo home run off Justin Verlander in a 3-1 loss to the Astros, who swept the three-game series at Minute Maid Park in impressive fashion against a Seattle club whose step-back season has gone further in reverse since trading away three more veterans last Wednesday.
After enduring their second no-hitter of the season on Saturday, the Mariners nicked Verlander (15-4, 2.68 ERA) for three hits and one run in his six-plus innings in the series finale, but they struck out 10 times against the 36-year-old standout and suffered their fourth straight loss.
Seager had two of Seattle’s four hits in the game, with his 10th homer of the season coming on a 378-foot shot leading off the seventh that ended Verlander’s day as well as an 18-inning scoreless streak for Seattle. Seager continues his midsummer revival, as he's hit .341 (15-for-44) with four home runs in his past 12 games to raise his average from .186 to .218 and his OPS from .592 to .698.
“It’s definitely been better,” Seager said. “Physically, it’s been much better positioning and all that good stuff. My swing feels better. [Hitting coach Tim] Laker and those guys are awesome. I’m in there picking his brain every day and that’s been good for me.”
Seager missed the first two months of the season after having surgery on his left hand in Spring Training, then he struggled to find himself at the plate after spending the winter losing weight and gaining more flexibility.
“A lot of it was self-inflicted,” Seager said. “I tried some different things. This winter, there were a lot of things I tried to correct physically and I got away from my actual swing that I’d done in the past. It was kind of dumb on my part because I tried to fix myself physically so I’d be able to make my swing, then I went away from my swing. Those are self-inflicted wounds there, but it definitely feels better.”
It took a slow roller by Seager -- a dribbler down the line that hopped off the third-base bag with two out in the fourth -- to break Seattle’s streak of 15 innings without a hit. The exit velocity on Seager’s single was 41.7 mph and it helped that the Astros were shifted the other way against the lefty. But the Mariners were happy to see their first hit since Seager’s sixth-inning single off Wade Miley on Friday night.
“Hits are good any time you can get 'em,” Seager said. “[Verlander] was obviously pretty sharp and pretty tough today. You take anything you can get and try to put a little pressure on him anyway. I squibbed it right in there. Well placed.”
That was the longest hitless streak in the Majors since a 16-inning drought by the Dodgers in 1981, according to STATS.
Seager thought he had a double on the play, but instead, he nearly wound up getting thrown out trying to scramble getting back to first. Omar Narvaez, who had led off the inning with a walk, slammed on the brakes after rounding second when third baseman Alex Bregman hustled over to field the ball after it caromed off the jutted-out fence down the left-field line, leaving Seager nowhere to go.
It was that kind of series for the Mariners, who fell to 1-12 on the year against the Astros. Houston totaled as many home runs (seven) as the Mariners had hits in the three-game sweep and outscored Seattle, 22-3.
“It’s tough. They’re obviously a good ballclub,” said right fielder Dylan Moore, who tripled off Verlander with two outs in the fifth before winding up stranded there. “But we can do better than that. Everyone in here is going to tell you we didn’t play offensively to our potential or standards.”
The Astros have won 14 of their past 17 to open up their American League West lead at 73-40, while Seattle slipped further into the cellar, at 47-67.