TEXAS--George Kirby pitched six strong innings, Julio Rodriguez joined the 20-20 club and the Seattle Mariners kept pace in the playoff race with an 8-1 win at the Houston Astros on Wednesday in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Seattle (82-77) closed within two games of the final American League wild-card spot pending results by Detroit and Kansas City later Wednesday. The Mariners have three games remaining, while the Tigers (83-74) and Royals (83-74), tied for the second wild-card spot, each have five left. Seattle must finish with a better record than both clubs and the Minnesota Twins (81-76) to clinch the final wild-card spot. All three teams own tiebreakers over the Mariners. Houston (86-73) clinched its fourth straight AL West title with Tuesday night's 4-3 win. The Astros will host a best-of-three wild-card series starting Oct. 1. Justin Turner put Seattle ahead 2-1 in the sixth on his two-out single with the bases loaded against Houston left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (9-10). That was enough support for Kirby (14-11), who limited the Astros to one run on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
Kikuchi, formerly with the Mariners, was charged with two runs (none earned) on four hits and one walk over six frames. He tallied eight strikeouts, including his 200th of the season. Astros rookie Shay Whitcomb committed four errors after replacing veteran Alex Bregman at third base in the fourth inning. Bregman, an impending free agent who has won two World Series with Houston, was pulled from his potential last regular-season home game and received a nice ovation as he exited. Victor Caratini's two-out RBI single put the Astros ahead 1-0 in the third inning. Kikuchi stymied the Mariners until Seattle loaded the bases with one out in the sixth without hitting a ball out of the infield. Dylan Moore reached on Whitcomb's first error and Victor Robles walked to start the inning. Cal Raleigh had an infield hit with one out before Turner came through after Randy Arozarena struck out.
Mitch Garver's home run against Shawn Dubin leading off the seventh put the Mariners up 3-1. Whitcomb committed two more errors in the inning, including a bad throw that scored Robles from second to make it 5-1. Whitcomb's fourth error in the ninth led to another run before Rodriguez closed the scoring with his 20th homer this season, a two-run shot. Rodriguez has 24 steals this season for his third straight 20-20 campaign.
