Haunted by early errors, Mariners fail to rally in loss to Astros

HOUSTON – Up to this point of the season, defense has rarely proved to be the Mariners’ issue.

Through the first 50 games, they had committed just 20 errors and their .989 fielding percentage was tied for fourth in baseball.

But when you’re the Mariners and seemingly all you play is close games, a couple of fielding miscues can prove to be the difference.

That was the case on Saturday when two Mariners errors on back-to-back pitches in the first inning ended up being all Houston needed in a 2-1 victory before 35,785 at Daikin Park.

“They’ve played so well all year, and sometimes those things are going to happen,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said.

The Astros ensured at least a split of the four-game series and that the Mariners can’t leave Houston with more than a 3½-game lead in the division depending on the outcome of Sunday’s finale.

For the seventh time in the past 25 years, the Mariners lost a game despite not giving up an earned run.

Two of those losses have come this year. Both have been against Houston. Both finished with a 2-1 score.

The first came in early April in Seattle, an infuriating night when the M’s failed repeatedly to score with runners in scoring position, going 1 for 19, struck out 19 times and eventually lost in 12 innings.

Saturday’s loss was less frustrating but still stung.

Mariners starter Bryan Woo faced as much traffic as he has at any point this season yet continued his streak of pitching at least six innings in each of his 10 starts.

But he was also responsible for one of the errors in the first inning that led to Houston’s first run.

With two outs in the first and a runner on first, Woo attempted to make an off-balance throw after fielding Christian Walker’s slow chopper up the third-base line. Woo has made similar plays in the past, but this time the more prudent move would have been to keep the ball in his hand.

Instead, the throw to first base was wild and caromed into foul territory down the right-field line. The errant throw escaped far enough that Jose Altuve scored from first and Walker easily jogged into second.

“Obviously, a play I know I can make. Think maybe just forced it a little bit,” Woo said. “I want to make the play, know I can make the play, but fundamentally maybe just isn’t the right play there.”

On the next pitch, Victor Caratini hit a 104 mph shot that Leo Rivas couldn’t cleanly handle at second base and Walker scored. Two pitches and a 2-0 lead for the Astros.

That was all Houston would get because Woo was terrific at pitching out of trouble. He gave up nine hits as too many pitches ended up in the middle of the plate and the velocity on his fastball and sinker was down early in the game. But the more Woo wiggled free from trouble, the more the velocity came back and the longer he stayed on the mound.

Woo faced runners at first and third with one out in the third inning and left the runners in place after striking out Jake Meyers on a terrific slider and getting a fly out from Cam Smith. The Astros had first and third and two outs an inning later, but Woo got Altuve to tap back to the mound.

Woo (5-2) allowed at least one runner to reach in every inning, yet finished the day without an earned run allowed.

“Just didn’t get ahead very well, fell behind a lot. Execution, especially with the sinker, not great,” Woo said. “Just never really got in the way that I wanted to. And then just left a lot of pitches middle that they were able to hit back up the middle.”

While the Astros knocked Woo around, the Mariners couldn’t do the same to Houston starter Framber Valdez. Randy Arozarena tripled leading off the second inning and scored on Mitch Garver’s groundout, but the M’s managed just three more hits against the lefty. Rivas had a tough day at the plate, twice grounding out with runners at second and two outs. Jeremy Peña made a sliding stop to take away a hit from Donovan Solano for the final out of the sixth inning with Garver at second.

Arozarena’s triple was the only time the Mariners advanced a runner past second base.

“I thought (Valdez’s) breaking ball was pretty sharp today and kept the ball down,” Wilson said. “And again, we talked about it beforehand, but it’s tough to get him up in the air, and he was able to get ahead and keep the ball down and just didn’t give us a lot of opportunities.”

Bryan Abreu pitched the eighth for Houston facing the heart of the M’s order a night after giving up a tying double to Julio Rodríguez and a winning homer to Cal Raleigh.

This time, he walked Raleigh to open the inning before getting Rodríguez to ground into a force out, and struck out both Arozarena and Garver looking.

The Mariners can’t win the series Sunday, but will be trying to avoid their first series loss on the road since getting swept in San Francisco in early April. Luis Castillo will get the start for the M’s.