HOUSTON — Even if they find a way to salvage a victory in Sunday’s series finale, and nothing about the first two games of this three-game series at Minute Maid Park would make one believe that is possible, the Mariners have been absolutely handled in this series against the Astros, a team that has owned them for the better part of the last three seasons.
It was never more apparent than on Saturday afternoon when the Astros hammered the Mariners, 15-1, turning the game into a rout almost as quickly as it started, leaving the only drama to be which position player might pitch for the Mariners.
With a 12-3 drubbing on Friday, the Mariners have been outscored 27-4 in two games.
In six games at Minute Maid this season, the Mariners are 1-5 and have been outscored 41-12. They are 4-8 against Houston this season and two of those wins came in a series in which Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel were missing due to COVID-19 guidelines.
Facing the Astros for the first time in his career, a team he will need to beat in the future as one of the top pitchers in the projected rotation, Logan Gilbert got to endure what so many other Mariners pitchers have felt over the past years at Minute Maid Park. That unenjoyable baptism by hits and earned runs allowed, resulted in his worst outing as a big leaguer. His final line: 4 2/3 innings, nine runs allowed on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
Gilbert exited the game after giving up an RBI single to Yuli Gurriel on his 97th pitch of the day that made it 7-0. After a brief visit with manager Scott Servais, he trudged to the dugout, leaving a pair of runners on base for right-hander Robert Dugger. Those runner didn’t remain on base for long.
Dugger served up an RBI double to Taylor Jones and a two-run single to Jake Meyers that made it 10-0, two of the three runs allowed were charged to Gilbert.
Called up on Saturday morning when right-hander Diego Castillo was placed on the 10-day injured list, Dugger served as the sacrificial arm in the blowout and guaranteeing his stint his latest MLB call-up will be likely be less than 24 hours. He gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits in the final 3 1/3 innings pitched.
