Roenis Elias rebounds in Mariners’ 5-2 victory over Astros

SEATTLE – Roenis Elias rebounded Friday from the worst start of his career by shutting down that same opponent that delivered a severe spanking just five days ago.

Elias worked into the eighth inning as the Mariners opened a key weekend series against first-place Houston – as key as they get, maybe, in June – with a 5-2 victory at Safeco Field.

The M’s also mustered some impact from the middle of their lineup. Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager were a combined 6 for 10 with four runs and two RBIs.

Mark Trumbo added three RBIs after having just one in his previous 12 games since arriving in a trade.

That was plenty of support for Elias, who began the game by giving up a first-pitch homer to George Springer but yielded nothing more until a leadoff homer in the eighth inning by Marwin Gonzalez.

The Mariners went to their bullpen at that point to protect a three-run lead with six outs to go. Mark Lowe got three quick outs in the eighth before Carson Smith pitched the ninth for his fourth save in four chances since replacing Fernando Rodney as the club’s closer.

Elias (4-4) gave up two runs and four hits in seven-plus innings. He didn’t walk a batter and matched a career high with 10 strikeouts.

A notable comeback after yielding a career-worst eight runs last Sunday over just 3 1/3 innings in a 13-0 loss to the Astros in Houston.

This isn’t an isolated incident.

Elias gave up four runs on May 30 on a 4-3 loss to the Indians at Safeco, which broke his streak of 16 consecutive starts of permitting three or fewer runs.

He faced them again 10 days later in Cleveland – and gave up just one run in six innings.

It was just the Mariners’ third victory this season in 11 games against the Astros.

The game started with a bang: Springer clubbed a first-pitch fastball for a 397-foot homer to left.

Houston then mounted a two-out threat when Elias hit Evan Gattis in the leg, and Chris Carter followed with a single to right. But Elias avoided further damage by striking out Domingo Santana.

After that, Elias went into shutdown mode. The Mariners, meanwhile, grabbed the lead in their first.

Logan Morrison led off with a bloop single. After Austin Jackson walked, Gonzalez booted Cano’s grounder to second to load the bases.

Houston starter Lance McCullers then forced in the tying run by walking Cruz after being ahead 1-2 in the count.

Seager struck out on three pitches, but Trumbo’s soft grounder to short traded an out for the go-ahead run and a 2-1 lead.

The Mariners extended their lead to 3-1 in the third inning after one-out singles by Cano and Cruz. McCullers struck out Seager again, but Trumbo yanked a grounder through the left side for an RBI single.

Only a leaping catch by third baseman Luis Valbuena on Seth Smith’s soft liner prevented the Mariners from a bigger inning.

The Mariners knocked out McCullers (3-2) in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Cano flicked a one-out single to right and went to second when Cruz drew another walk. Seager then atoned for two strikeouts by lining an RBI single to right. Cruz reached third despite a howitzer throw from Domingo Santana.

After Will Harris replaced McCullers, Trumbo collected his third RBI of the game with a grounder to second. The Mariners led 5-1.