HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Yordan Alvarez and Gerrit Cole combined to help the Astros complete a weekend series sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 6-1 win Sunday Afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
Cole allowed a home run to J.P. Crawford in the first inning, but that was the only run he allowed in seven innings. He gave up five hits while striking out 10 in earning his eighth win of the season, and he didn't trail for long as the Astros struck in their half of the inning.
Jose Altuve singled between walks to George Springer and Alex Bregman, loading the bases, and Alvarez doubled home two to put the Astros on top. In the third, he increased the Astros lead when he followed Bregman's 1-out triple with an RBI single. That was all the offense the game would see for awhile as the Astros didn't score again against Mariners starter Marco Gonzales, who tossed five innings. With Cole out of the game, Collin McHugh and Ryan Pressly combined to hold Seattle off the board in the eighth. In the bottom half of the inning, the Astros blew the game open with three runs off Mike Wright. Jake Marisnick drove home two and Jose Altuve capped the inning with his third hit of the day.
Alvarez and Josh Reddick finished with two hits for the Astros who improve to 53-32 on the season.
Domingo Santana collected a pair of hits for the Mariners, who drop to 37-51.
After an off day Monday, the Astros will visit Coors field for the first game of a two game series against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night.
