HOUSTON _ Baseball doesn't believe in following scripts and plot lines that would seem so perfect. For every Kirk Gibson homer in the 1988 World Series, there are hundreds of moments so fitting for redemption and triumph that never occur because of the cruel difficulty of the game.
Really there didn't need to be a no-hitter or a shutout to make the already uplifting situation surrounding Kendall Graveman's start feel proper.
It didn't need to be perfection, but something better than what transpired in the Mariners' 8-5 loss to the Astros on Monday evening.
It had been 808 days since he'd last pitched in a Major League game � May 11, 2018, at Yankee Stadium � and during that span he'd dealt with struggles that led to a demotion, an aching elbow that never quite seemed right, subsequent season-ending surgery, being let go by the team that he'd made two opening-day starts for, a grueling, painful and lonely rehab that seemed less about strengthening his surgically repaired elbow and more about finding the mental and emotional will to erase the doubts and fears from his mind.
A solid outing where he allowed maybe a run or two over five innings would've been satisfactory in this saga. A pitching win? Not necessary, but would've been a nice addition.
Instead, Graveman pitched into the fifth inning, never recording an out while being charged with six earned runs on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in the loss.
As Astros leadoff hitter George Springer readied to step into the batter's box in the bottom of the first inning, Graveman stood behind the mound, glanced around for a moment, took a deep breath. He'd made it back to the big leagues. The doubts that wanted to fight their way into his mind during the recovery and rehab from Tommy John surgery could be forever vanished.
With adrenaline pulsing through his body, he delivered a tantalizing first inning. He struck out George Springer swinging on a 97-mph fastball. He struck out Jose Altuve looking with a 98-mph at the top of the strike zone. And he culminated the inning with a strikeout looking of Alex Bregman on a 95-mph cutter.
Obviously that sort of dominance wasn't sustainable. The adrenaline faded and fatigue began the process of replacing that boost of energy with each pitch. The velocity dropped down a tick or two to a more normal rate of speed. Graveman's command became a little less sharp and Astros hitters, now operating without the help of a camera and a trash can, started to figure him out.
After working out of traffic in the second inning with a timely double play, it couldn't be avoided in the third inning. Given a 3-0 lead in the top half of the frame, highlighted by Evan White's first career homer � a two-run blast to deep left-center _ Graveman immediately gave those three runs back and more.
An error by Kyle Seager to start the inning was followed by a regrettable walk to light-hitting catcher Dustin Garneau, batting in the nine spot. Graveman came back to strike out Springer, but Altuve yanked an elevated change-up down the left-field line to score Kyle Tucker. It was Altuve's 300th double of his career, and it only seems like all 300 have come against Mariners pitchers. Moments later, a Graveman pitch that leaked back over the inside half to Bregman was turned into a three-run homer that gave the Astros a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Houston picked up some add-on runs off of Graveman. A walk to Tucker in the fourth inning was followed by a triple from Garneau off the wall in deep left-center that was just out of the reach of a leaping Dee Gordon.
Graveman started the fifth and gave up a "home run" to Altuve that barely got over the wall in the short left-field area known as the Crawford boxes. A walk to Bregman ended Graveman's outing at 88 pitches.
Lefty Taylor Guilbeau, who was called up from the taxi squad earlier in the day to replace the injured Brandon Brennan, entered and gave up two more runs, one of which was charged to Graveman.
Down 8-3, the Mariners tried to chip away at the lead, picking up a pair of runs in the seventh on an RBI from Seager and an RBI single from White.
