Jake Meyers slugged a three-run home run to ignite a breakout, six-run second inning as the Houston Astros rolled to an 11-2 victory over the visiting Seattle Mariners on Monday.
Meyers (2-for-5, four RBIs) was one of five to record multi-hit games as Houston (80-57) snapped the Mariners’ five-game winning streak and extended its lead in the American League West to 5 1/2 games.
His fourth homer followed a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Aledmys Diaz that included a fielding error by Mariners second baseman Abraham Toro and spotted the Astros a 2-0 lead.
Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (7-8), making his sixth start of the season against the Astros, did not survive the second inning. Jose Altuve (2-for-4, two walks) doubled two batters after Meyers’ home run and scored on a Yordan Alvarez double to center field that chased Kikuchi.
One start after twirling seven shutout innings at the Astros, Kikuchi allowed six runs (four earned) on three hits and four walks while failing to record a strikeout over 1 2/3 innings. He threw just 19 of his 42 pitches for strikes and dropped to 1-5 in his career against Houston.
The Astros tallied two more runs off Mariners left-hander Justus Sheffield in the fifth inning before scoring three runs off Seattle left-hander Sean Doolittle in the sixth. Meyers added an RBI single in the fifth before Kyle Tucker extended the lead to 10-2 with a two-run double that scored Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel. Tucker (3-for-4) and Gurriel (2-for-4) scored three runs apiece.
Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. (11-4) benefitted from the onslaught, limiting Seattle (75-63) to two runs on four hits and four walks with seven strikeouts over six innings and 93 pitches (60 strikes). He nearly escaped the Mariners’ two-run third unscathed but surrendered a two-run double to Toro with two outs and two strikes that sliced the deficit to 6-2.
McCullers required just 10 pitches to complete the fourth and set the Mariners down in order in the fifth inning before capping his start with strikeouts of Jose Marmolejos and Jarred Kelenic.
–Field Level Media