This Seattle Mariners homestand wasn’t supposed to look pretty. Not with the two teams that duked it out against each other in last year’s World Series in town, not with ace James Paxton watching in the dugout while on the disabled list and to top it all a thick layer of smoke from wildfires shrouded Seattle and much of Safeco Field in a dreary haze.
But by the end of the fourth inning this was just ugly, the Houston Astros blanking the Mariners with an eight-run lead.
Seattle did rally with a five-run sixth that cut the deficit to two runs, but by the end the Astros had left town with a 10-7 victory that had Mariners starter Marco Gonzales walking back to the Mariners’ dugout after 11 hits and a career-high eight runs allowed in three-plus innings on Wednesday.