Julio Rodriguez established a major league record for hits over four games while the Seattle Mariners repeatedly delivered with two outs en route to their 10-3 victory over the host Houston Astros on Saturday.
Rodriguez went 4-for-6 with singles in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings, giving him 17 hits over the past four games. Milt Stock held the previous mark with 16 over a four-game stretch for the Brooklyn Robins in 1925.
The Mariners’ leadoff batter, Rodriguez singled in the first inning, stole second base and scored the first of his two runs on the night on Eugenio Suarez’s single as the Mariners began to pound on scuffling Astros ace Framber Valdez.
Seattle improved to 13-3 over its last 16 games and clinched its seventh consecutive road series.
The Mariners, who clinched the season series with Houston, initiated their two-out success in the second when Cade Marlowe followed a two-out single by Jose Caballero with a triple to right-center field that doubled the lead to 2-0.
As he did in the second, Valdez retired the first two batters of the third inning before stumbling again, allowing five consecutive Mariners to reach.
Ty France scored after Teoscar Hernandez doubled and Astros center fielder Jake Meyers fumbled the ball. Cal Raleigh added an RBI single, and Valdez needed a strikeout of Marlowe to strand the bases full.
Valdez (9-9) came undone in the fifth when he allowed a two-out, two-run homer to Dylan Moore that plated France and extended the Seattle lead to 6-2. Valdez plunked Caballero with the first pitch of the ensuing at-bat, and both dugouts and bullpens cleared after Caballero protested.
Aside from his no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians on Aug. 1, Valdez has been mired in an extended slump. He fell to 2-4 with a 5.82 ERA over his last nine starts after surrendering six runs on 10 hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings.
The Astros managed two solo home runs off Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (11-5), who allowed eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts over six strong innings.
Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz recorded their 20th and 17th homers, respectively, in the third and fourth. Mauricio Dubon homered in the ninth.
Hernandez added a two-run double for Seattle with two outs in the eighth. Moore homered again in the ninth before Sam Haggerty clubbed his first homer with two outs in the inning.
With a single to left in the fifth inning, Houston second baseman Jose Altuve joined Astros Hall of Famers Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell as the only players in franchise history to record 2,000 career hits. Altuve did so in his 1,631st game. Altuve finished 3-for-5.
–Field Level Media
