Mariners lose second straight to Astros despite strong Gilbert outing

The Mariners see their streak of eight consecutive series wins come to an end, after a spectacular start by the Astros’ Justin Verlander.

Even though the Mariners saw their win streak come to an end on Friday night courtesy of a 5-2 loss to the Astros, confidence remained high. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, this couldn’t stop them from losing to their divisional rivals again on Saturday.

The Astros won 3-1, to take a second consecutive game and the series. And for this, they owe a big debt of gratitude to Justin Verlander.

The future Hall-of-Famer was quite simply spectacular against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. He went 7.0 innings and gave up just four hits and one earned run — a homer to Carlos Santana — while striking out nine batters.

For the second consecutive game, Seattle couldn’t take advantage of a bases-loaded situation, this time in the bottom of the seventh and with one out. Verlander — as he often has done over the years — rose to the occasion to strike out first Cal Raleigh and then Sam Haggerty.

Verlander had his worst game of the season back on May 27 in Seattle, when he allowed season-highs of 10 hits, four home runs and six earned runs. There would be no repeat this time around, for a player who is pitching as well as ever, despite now being 39 and having missed all of last year following Tommy John Surgery.

The Mariners will be hoping Logan Gilbert can have a career somewhat resembling Verlander’s. In this respect, he had an excellent outing himself on Saturday.

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Gilbert had already shown his ability to thrive against a strong Astros side, going 2-0 in his first two starts against them and allowing just three earned runs in 13 combined innings. There was more of the same on Saturday, albeit this time with a loss attached.

The 25-year-old came out firing and looked like he was in the zone. He struck out the first four batters he faced, to finish one short of the franchise record.

Gilbert would only have one poor inning on the day, but it still proved costly. He allowed a walk in the top of the fourth, then consecutive doubles by the Astros led to two runs and a 2-0 lead for the visitors.

The 2018 14th overall draft pick finished the day pitching 6.0 innings. He allowed five hits, the aforementioned two earned runs and just one walk, while striking out eight.

Part of the reason for Gilbert’s strong effort versus the Astros, was the ability to get his curveball going. Speaking to the media aftewards, he said:

“It felt great. We were trying to get it in there early and it felt like it was working so we stuck with it. I think that’s a key. The fastball always feels good out of the gate, but trying to get the curveball — and slider — going as much as I can early to just have that feel to go back to (them) whenever I need it.

Gilbert’s next opportunity to face the Astros will come soon enough, with his next start scheduled to take place in Houston on Thursday. The Mariners will be hoping for another strong effort by him, along with the presence of Julio Rodriguez.

While there are no guarantees Rodriguez would have been able to do anything against Houston, his absence was still felt. Especially on Friday, when the Mariners went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

At the same time, it is fully appreciated that baseball is a team game and the Mariners have the talent to succeed even on those occasions when Rodriguez is not available. Now, they need to try and salvage something from what has so far been a reality check series versus the Astros.

If noting else, manager Scoot Servais remains positive about his ball club and with good reason. Speaking to the media, he said:

“We have played such good baseball and we’ve been much more consistent offensively. We can’t let what’s happened these last couple of days (affect us). We continue to put traffic and pressure on people and we’ll get the big hits. They will come – they come in bunches as we’ve seen it. It came in 14 straight games … so we’ll continue with the same approach and believe in what we’re doing and we’ll be just fine.”

Robbie Ray will take the ball for the series finale on Sunday, versus Framber Valdez. The Mariners are now 6-8 on the season against the Astros, with five games remaining.

What is your mindset following these two losses to the Astros? Are you confident the Mariners will be a wild card team by the end of the season, or do you worry it’s going to be another case of falling short? Let us know in the comments section below.