SEATTLE — Don’t try to figure out baseball, because you can’t.
Take Friday night for example.
The Seattle Mariners were coming off two demoralizing losses to a rebuilding Oakland team and facing first-place Houston’s Justin Verlander, who was leading the major leagues with a 1.22 earned-run average and had not allowed a run in his previous three starts.
So what happens?
Julio Rodriguez and Kyle Lewis belted two-run homers in the first inning, Ty France and Taylor Trammell also homered off the Astros ace, propelling the Mariners to a 6-1 series-opening victory Friday night at T-Mobile Park.
Verlander entered the game with a 2-0 record against the Mariners this season and had not given up more than three runs in any of his eight starts this year. On Friday, he allowed four runs five batters into the game.
After a sharp one-out single by Ty France, Rodriguez directed Verlander’s fastball into the right-field seats for his third homer in the past four games.
After a walk to J.P. Crawford, it was Lewis’ turn. Verlander hung a slider and Lewis crushed it 441 feet into the left-field seats and a 4-0 Mariners lead.
Verlander’s season ERA jumped to 1.88 after just one inning.
Don’t try to make sense of it. It’s baseball.
Mariners starter Chris Flexen entered the game with a 1-6 record and had gotten almost no offensive support — five runs in his first seven starts — until he could not hold a 5-0 lead at Boston in his previous start.
Flexen did a much better job with the lead this time. He allowed nine base runners, but he worked out of some jams and showed the grit he did last year when he led the Mariners with 14 victories.
But none of those wins came against Houston, with Flexen being 0-5 with a 6.16 ERA against the Astros.
Flexen’s history didn’t matter Friday night as he allowed one run on seven hits and two walks. He struck out seven.
Verlander’s history also didn’t matter. He allowed three hits in eight scoreless innings in a 4-0 win at T-Mobile Park in April — and on Friday he allowed four homers for the fourth time in his career and for the first time since 2018.
France joined the Mariners homer parade, when he led off the third with a 420-foot drive to center field. The Mariners had Verlander in trouble again in the fourth and fifth innings but could not add to their 5-1 lead.
But they did in the sixth. Trammell, who had the Mariners’ first bunt hit of the season in the fourth inning, led off the bottom of the frame with a 392-foot drive to right-center field.
Verlander made it out of the inning despite allowing two more hits, but enough damage had been done. He allowed six earned runs in six innings, gave up 10 hits and a walk and also hit a batter. He struck out six.
Two weeks ago, the Mariners were able to get another win off one of the game’s best pitchers, winning 2-1 on the road while facing the New York Mets’ Max Scherzer.
Seattle was unable to sustain any momentum from that, going 3-9 after that victory heading into Friday night’s game.
Will this latest big win lead to a turnaround for the Mariners, who have not won consecutive games since winning four in a row from April 22-26?
Stay tuned.
