HOUSTON — Hours before the first pitch of what was yet another loss at Minute Maid Park Tuesday night, this time a 4-0 shutout, Mariners manager Scott Servais was asked about the looming milestone for Dusty Baker. With the next Astros victory, it would be Baker’s 2,000th win as a manager.
“I hope it comes in a couple days,” Servais said with a chuckle before saying the accomplishment is “phenomenal” and “quite a feat.”
But given the Mariners inability to beat the Astros in Houston over the last four seasons, well, it was easy to plan an expected celebration of the achievement.
As for Servais, he has 1,550 more wins to reach 2,000. And playing at Minute Maid certainly won’t expedite his climb to that total.
Similar to the night before, the duo of Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Pena provided the bulk of the run scoring for Houston, while the Mariners’ offense was held scoreless for the second straight game.
The Mariners have now lost 25 of their last 29 games at Minute Maid Park and will have to find a way to beat Justin Verlander in Wednesday afternoon’s series finale avoid being swept in the three-game series.
The last time the Mariners were faced with the possibility of being swept — the previous series on the road trip — they roughed up Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara in a 7-3 win.
The last time Seattle faced Verlander, he tossed eight shutout innings in a 4-0 Houston win at T-Mobile Park on April 16.
Seattle got a solid start from right-hander Chris Flexen, who worked five innings, allowing one run on two hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
The one run allowed came in the fourth inning on a solo homer from Alvarez — his fourth in five games and second of the series.
Alvarez pulverized a fastball on the inner half, sending a deep blast into the Budweiser beer garden area beyond the center-field wall. It measured 435 feet.
With the 2-3-4 hitters in the Astros lineup — Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman and Alvarez — coming to the plate in the sixth, Servais went to his bullpen. Lefty Anthony Misiewicz retired Brantley and Bregman on fly outs but walked Alvarez.
Servais went to right-hander Diego Castillo for the final out. That didn’t come until four batters later.
Castillo gave up a single to Yuli Gurriel on the first pitch he threw and then walked Kyle Tucker on five pitches. With bases loaded, Pena dumped a single into left field to score a pair of runs and push the lead to 3-0.
A three-run deficit felt like a 30-run deficit for a Mariners team in an offensive funk.
Seattle managed just four singles, two walks and a hit by pitch for seven total base runners. The Mariners had just one runner reach second base and held without an extra-base hit in the first two games of this series.
