Big seventh inning, Gerrit Cole’s pitching guide Astros over Mariners

SEATTLE – Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings and the Houston Astros scored six runs in the seventh to beat the Seattle Mariners 7-1 on Wednesday night.

Cole (2-0) struck out five, ending a string of double-digit strikeout games at three. He gave up an unearned run.

The Astros sent 11 batters to the plate in their biggest-scoring inning of the season off Mariners starter Mike Leake and relievers Nick Vincent and James Pazos.

The first five Houston batters reached against Leake (2-1), starting with Josh Reddick’s leadoff walk. After Yuli Gurriel hit a double in the left-field corner, Marwin Gonzalez followed by lining Leake’s first pitch to center field for a two-run single that gave the Astros a 3-1 lead.

Brian McCann doubled to deep right center, and Houston grabbed a 4-1 lead on a fielding error by right fielder Mitch Haniger, who got a late jump on Evan Gattis’ shallow fly ball.

Two batters later, George Springer hit a two-run double off Vincent that caromed off the right-center wall, and Houston had a 6-1 lead.

The Astros grabbed a 1-0 lead on McCann’s RBI double to left field in the second inning, scoring Gonzalez.

Seattle tied it at 1 in the third on Robinson Cano’s run-scoring single to center field.