Miller helped the Seattle Mariners stop the Houston Astros from securing the AL West title with a 6-1 victory
Bryce Miller pitched seven scoreless innings, and Julio Rodríguez contributed three hits and two RBIs to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night. This win stopped the Astros from clinching the AL West title.
The Astros needed just one win against the second-place Mariners to secure their fourth consecutive division championship. Instead, they struggled against Miller (12-8), managing only two singles while missing injured slugger Yordan Alvarez.
Seattle has won four out of five games and is now just 1 1/2 games behind the final American League wild-card spot, competing with Detroit, Kansas City, and Minnesota.
The Mariners are four games behind the Astros in the division standings, with five games left to play. Houston will get another chance to win the AL West when they face Seattle again on Tuesday night.
“We’ve just got to forget about the last game and show up with the best attitude,” said Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.
Rodríguez mentioned that the fact they prevented Houston from clinching the title didn’t concern him.
“We’re not really worried about that,” he said. “We’re really worried about winning one game at a time, and I feel like them winning the division is not really our concern. It’s more about us making it to the playoffs.”
In the game, Jon Singleton walked with one out in the second, and Jeremy Peña got Houston’s first hit with an infield single with two outs. Miller then dominated, retiring 13 batters in a row before walking Alex Bregman to start the seventh inning.
