Mariners take down AL West-leading Astros to open second half

SEATTLE – If Randy Arozarena’s home-run hitting hot streak looks familiar, it should.

The only other player in baseball this season to match Arozarena’s power surge is his teammate, Cal Raleigh.

The Mariners opened the second half of the season with a 6-1 win over Houston on Friday at T-Mobile Park thanks to a tremendous start from Luis Castillo, a couple of big swings from Arozarena and Mitch Garver and a big eighth inning.

Three games in July normally don’t carry this much significance, but the Mariners started the second half five games back in the division and won’t see the Astros again until mid-September in Houston. This weekend serves as the last chance to make up ground head-to-head until then and the ramifications could go beyond how many games back in the standings the Mariners are by the time the series wraps Sunday.

Arozarena hit his 18th homer of the season, a solo blast that traveled 445 feet out to left-center field off Houston starter Brandon Walter. It was his 10th homer in the past 14 games – Raleigh is the only other player in baseball to hit 10 in a 14-game span.

Ken Griffey Jr. had a similar surge during the 1996 season, but in the time between Griffey and this season, the only Mariners player to hit 10 homers in 14 games was Nelson Cruz during the 2015 season.

Arozarena has started using a torpedo bat, which first became evident on the M’s road trip before the All-Star break when his run of homers included one in New York and two in Detroit. And it was a torpedo in his hands when he connected Friday.

Garver added the blow that proved to be the difference, hitting his sixth of the season out to center field with two outs in the seventh inning to give the M’s a 2-0 lead.

Crawford extended his hitting streak to 15 games dumping a single into left field in the eighth and scored Cole Young. Raleigh followed with an RBI single of his own that scored Crawford, his first that wasn’t a home run since June 29.

Donovan Solano added a sacrifice fly and Raleigh scored on a wild pitch to cap the four-run outburst.

Castillo was outstanding in winning his third straight start by pitching into the seventh and scattering hits while striking out seven. He’s allowed four earned runs total over his last four starts combined, spanning 24 2/3 innings, while striking out 25 during that time.

And his biggest punch out on Friday came in the third inning.

Mauricio Dubon and Brice Matthews opened the inning with singles. Isaac Paredes popped out to left and Cam Smith grounded into a fielders choice. But that still left runners at second and third after Smith stole second base and with perpetual Mariners pest Jose Altuve at the plate.

In the first inning, Castillo got Altuve looking at a sinker on the inside corner for strike three. And in the third, he threw a 96 mph fastball past Altuve to escape the jam. It was the second of three times Castillo struck out Altuve.

Castillo was one pitch away from getting through seven shutout innings for the second time this month, but walked former Mariner Taylor Trammell on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the seventh. Gabe Speier retired Dubon to end the seventh, but Matt Brash found trouble in the eighth.

Matthews walked on a 3-2 pitch and Paredes roped a double to left-center to trim the M’s lead to 2-1. Brash struck out Smith on a 3-2 slider, and Altuve and Christian Walker both meekly popped out to right and Paredes never left second base.

Raleigh added on with a RBI single as part of a four-run eighth inning, tying him for the MLB lead in RBIs with Aaron Judge.