Julio Rodriguez belts homer, Andrés Muñoz finishes off Mariners’ win over Astros

HOUSTON – In a rare glove-on appearance for one of the game’s all-time great designated hitters, Edgar Martínez threw batting practice to Mariners hitters Monday afternoon at Daikin Park.

His first pitch nearly plunked J.P. Crawford, prompting a few playful barbs from longtime teammate Jay Buhner, in town for one of his occasional appearances with the Mariners broadcast team.

Martínez, the Mariners’ senior hitting coach, soon settled in and began lobbing quality strikes.

No one was happier about that than Julio Rodríguez, who launched one blast after another way out to left field during batting practice, and then did it again with a towering 414-foot blast a couple hours later off Houston starter Peter Lambert to highlight the Mariners’ 3-1 victory over the rival Astros in the opener of their four-game series.

It was Rodríguez’s seventh homer of the season and it continued his torrid stretch at the plate over the past month.

As important as that homer was, it wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the homer he hit off Martínez during batting practice to win a bet with a heckling Houston fan.

The fan had been chirping at the Mariners’ star center fielder, challenging Rodríguez to hit one off a car-dealership sign just below the train tracks. Unprompted, the man offered up his shoes if Rodríguez could hit the sign.

A few pitches later, Rodríguez dented the exact sign, causing him to skip out of the catting cage and demand the man’s shoes. (They were well-worn flip-flops, it turned out. Rodríguez, fortunately, was wearing batting gloves when he picked ’em up.)

“Edgar threw the second pitch, like, a nice one up and in and I put a good swing on it and literally hit the ‘Lexus’ sign right in the middle,” Rodríguez said. “And I literally walked out the cage and said, ‘Give me your shoes!’ It was funny.”

Eventually, Rodríguez gave the fan his flip-flops back. “You look a little sad walking up the stairs (barefoot),” he told the man.

The Mariners have, indeed, been winning everything in Houston lately.

Mariners All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz, working through the toughest stretch of his career, struck out Yordan Alvarez swinging through a 93-mph change-up for the game’s final out.

The Mariners (20-22) inched closer to .500 after their series loss in Chicago over the weekend.

After an effective – but truncated – start from George Kirby, rookie right-hander Nick Davila and emerging right-hander Cooper Criswell helped a patchwork bullpen finish off the Mariners’ eighth consecutive victory over Houston and fifth straight this season.

Eduard Bazardo, a day after taking the loss to the White Sox in Chicago, worked around a leadoff walk to pitch a scoreless eighth inning.

Then Muñoz, after allowing a two-out single to Jose Altuve, struck out Alvarez to earn his eighth save.

The Mariners (20-22) inched closer to .500 after their series loss in Chicago over the weekend.

Rodríguez, in his fifth season, is off to the best start in any season of his career, and he nearly homered in his first at-bat in the first inning off Astros right-hander Peter Lambert, sending a drive just foul near the left-field foul pole (he lined out to right field to end the at-bat).

In the third inning, Rodríguez belted a no-doubter off the facing of the high wall in left field, his seventh home run of the season to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.

It was the 119th home run of his career, to go along with 119 stolen bases. (Over a 162-game season, that averages out to 30 homers and 30 steals.)

With two outs in the second inning, Dom Canzone drove the Mariners’ first run with a sharp opposite-field single to left field, driving in Randy Arozarena from second base.

On the next pitch, Cole Young singled to right field, driving in Luke Raley from second base with a head-first slide home. On both plays, M’s third-base coach Carlos Cardoza showed no hesitation in sending both runners home, and the aggressiveness paid off both times.

Kirby allowed only one run in five innings, though he needed 99 pitches to get through those five innings. He scattered seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.