En route to their first World Series title last year, the Astros won 14 of 19 games against Mariners. In their first series of 2018, Houston took three of four at Safeco, halting a strong start to the season for the Mariners.
This is what good baseball teams do. They take advantage of prime opportunities. They make opponents pay for costly mistakes. They minimize lapses themselves.
The Houston Astros did all of that Thursday afternoon in a 9-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field, and they did all that well enough over the last three days to again foil their AL West rival.