M’s fail to deliver in clutch, fall to Astros again

HOUSTON – We have a problem. The Mariners keep waiting for their veteran bats to produce, particularly with runners in scoring position…and it’s just not happening. The silence was notably telling Friday in a 4-3 loss to do-no-wrong Houston at Minute Maid Park. “Everybody in here believes that we’re a good team,” center fielder Austin Jackson said, “and that things will turn around eventually. It’s just not falling for us right now. It’s just part of the game. “It’s tough, but if we keep getting those guys out there and keep presenting ourselves with opportunities, eventually it will turn around.” Friday seemed like an ordered-up opportunity. The Astros reached into their bullpen for starting pitcher Sam Deduno, who responded with four solid innings. Then came ex-Mariner Josh Fields, recently returned from the disabled list, and just-recalled Kevin Chapman. That got the game to the seventh inning with the Mariners nearly shut down. Houston polished off its eighth straight victory with veterans Pat Neshek and Chad Qualls before Luke Gregerson wobbled through a two-homer ninth inning. “Obviously, we want to play better,” third baseman Kyle Seager said. “You have days like we’ve had where pitching has been good, and we haven’t been able to get enough runs for them.” The Mariners had just four hits before the ninth inning, fell to 10-13 and find themselves trailing Houston by six games just one day into May. The Astros have won 12 of their last 13. “Whatever we’ve got to do,” manager Lloyd McClendon said, “shake it up or whatever, we’ve got to do to start swinging the bats better. You score two or three runs, you’re not going to win ballgames.” McClendon said he wasn’t advocating wholesale personnel changes. “I’m not, after (23) games, going to say the season is burning,” he clarified. “Let’s blow it all to (heck). I mean that’s not very responsible. That’s certainly not the message I’m going to send to my team. “But do we need to work and do we need to get some things done? Yeah.” Houston scored all of its runs on homers. Evan Gattis had a two-run shot in the first inning and Jake Marisnick had a solo shot in the second. Those came against starter Roenis Elias. The final run came on George Springer’s two-out moon shot in the eighth inning against Tyler Olson. Springer’s homer appeared to be mere icing at the time, but that changed when Nelson Cruz opened the ninth with a towering homer against Gregerson that struck the locomotive atop the left-field wall. Logan Morrison then hit a one-out homer to right, but that was it. Gregerson retired the next two hitters for his fifth save. Fields (1-0) got the victory. Elias (0-1) rebounded from those two early homers by limiting the Astros to three runs in six innings. It was a quality start, although it marked the first time in 10 games that a Mariners starter allowed more than two earned runs. In the fourth inning with the M’s trailing 3-1, Morrison ripped a one-out triple. But Brad Miller and Dustin Ackley grounded out. Miller’s out dropped the Mariners to 6-for-31 this season with a runner on third and less than two outs. That stat, as much as anything, underscores the Mariners’ struggles.