Astros beat Mariners in final game of series

SEATTLE – Lloyd McClendon felt J.A. Happ pitched well enough to get the win Sunday. It didn’t work out well for Happ, or the Mariners.

Happ allowed three runs in five innings, but it wasn’t enough for the Mariners, as the Houston Astros padded their advantage against the Seattle bullpen late to take the series finale 6-2.

“I thought J.A. pitched behind the count early in the ballgame,” Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. “As the game went on, he started to find his groove and really, if you think about it, he pitched well enough to win today.”

Happ (3-4) rebounded from a rough start – the Astros scored a run in both the first two innings – to pitch an effective five innings, but was forced to exit after throwing 101 pitches.

“I felt fine, I felt strong,” he said. “I thought I had good stuff. I’m trying not to read too much into it.”

The Astros avoided a sweep with the win.

Houston’s rookie starter, Vincent Velasquez, struggled with his command, walking three batters in the first inning. Velasquez allowed Seattle a run to tie the score, but was able to escape too much damage by striking out Brad Miller to leave the bases loaded.

Velasquez ran into more problems in the fourth. Reliever Tony Sipp came on in relief to retire two straight to strand runners on the corners.

Velasquez allowed only two hits in 3 1/3 innings. But he walked four and gave up a run, and was pulled after throwing 93 pitches.

“That’s about as many pitches as you can throw in the shortest amount of time I think in probably in the history (of baseball),” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “I will say, getting out of that first inning with one run, regardless of how he sort of got through it, was a real key in this game. Really kept us in the game, where they could’ve really opened it up.”