SEATTLE _ The realistic view was that victory was far from assured. Heck, it might have seemed downright unlikely.
The Mariners went into Saturday afternoon's game against the surging Astros without Nelson Cruz and Ketel Marte in the lineup because of injury and they were facing right-hander Lance McCullers, a pitcher that had dominated them just 12 days earlier.
But the Mariners did as manager Scott Servais mentioned hopefully pregame: keep the game close and have a chance to win at the end.
Hisashi Iwakuma gave Seattle a stellar start and his teammates eked just enough offense to pick up the 1-0 win in front of a packed crowd of 41,386 at Safeco Field.
"Can't say enough about our pitching today," Servais said. "Iwakuma was awesome."
Of course it couldn't be simple for the Mariners (46-45). There was high drama in the top of the ninth. Brought in to protect a one-run lead, closer Steve Cishek gave up a leadoff double on a 1-2 slider to put the tying run in scoring position, causing immediate problems with Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Luis Valbuena to follow.
"It was obviously not the way I wanted to start the inning," Cishek said. "But I was just trying not to hit the panic button and stay with the plan."
Seattle got a bit of a gift when Altuve, who came into the game hitting .341 _ tops in the AL, decided to bunt for some reason. It wasn't called by manager A.J. Hinch and Altuve later admitted it was a mistake.
"He's the best hitter on the team and with a runner in scoring position, I figured he'd be swinging away," Cishek said. "I was just glad he bunted it back to me."
The bunt went straight to the mound. Cishek fielded it and fired to third without hesitation. The Mariners were able to get Gonzalez in a rundown for a free out, though Altuve did advance to second on the play. Two pitches later, he stole third base, putting the tying run 90 feet away.
Cishek, who has five blown saves on the season, endured. He came back to strike out Correa swinging and then punched out the ultra-dangerous Valbuena, who had got him for a walk-off homer in Houston, looking on a series of sliders on the outside corner to notch his 22nd save.
"I don't want to give up solid contact there," Cishek said. "I wanted a strikeout or a pop up. I knew I had to keep the ball down with (Valbuena). I had a base open. I was just trying to make my best pitches."
Cishek pounded his glove multiple times after the final out in an atypical outburst of emotion.
"It's just been aggravating the past few outings, giving up a couple of runs there," he said. "To give up leadoff double, it kind of gets under your skin a little bit when you're trying to have a clean inning. I'm not usually much of a fist pump guy, but it was a little bit of aggression taken out on my glove."
Servais was happy to see his closer find some success.
"Give Cishek credit," he said. "He's had some tough outings. A 1-0 game, your margin for error is so small."
But the game belonged to the Mariners' veteran starter, who has been their best pitcher this season. Iwakuma was brilliant, pitching seven shutout innings and allowing just two hits with a walk and eight strikeouts to improve to 10-6. In his last 12 starts, Iwakuma has pitched six or more innings in 11 of them and has a 9-2 record in that span.
"We wouldn't be in a good spot (without him)," Servais said. "There's no doubt. He's been our most consistent guy."
Iwakuma hadn't been particularly good against the Astros this season or in the past. He'd given up eight runs in 10 innings pitched in two previous starts and has a career 4.26 ERA in 13 starts vs. Houston.
"It was payback time," Iwakuma said through interpreter Antony Suzuki. "They got me good the last couple of starts. I went in knowing that I had to change my game plan."
That change was using an elevated fastball more in counts in hopes of making his splitfinger that much more difficult to hit.
"The analytical guys brought it to my attention this week that he wasn't expanding up and down as much," Servais said. "And when he does that the split is much more effective and he'll get some chases too because he's deceptive up in the zone."
With Iwakuma at 90 pitches, Servais went to his bullpen, calling on Edwin Diaz for a scoreless eighth and then Cishek in the ninth.
For the first five innings against McCullers, the Mariners were again mystified by his hard-breaking curveball and willingness to use it so often.
He followed the same game plan he used against them in Houston on Fourth of July. In that outing, McCullers pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and striking out 10. But while the Mariners didn't do much against McCullers in the way of damage, they did force him to throw a lot of pitches, expediting his exit.
"McCullers is really good and he threw a lot of breaking balls and our guys really struggle with it," Servais said.
Seattle's lone run against McCullers came in the sixth inning. Leonys Martin, who was one of the few hitters to see him really well all game with a double and walk in two previous plate appearances, hammered a line drive to right-center for a leadoff triple.
"I just try and not miss his fastball," Martin said. "That's what it is all about."
He later jogged home when Robinson Cano singled past a drawn-in infield for the Mariners' first run. McCullers pitched to just one more batter before lifted from the game. He was credited with 51/3 innings pitched, giving up one run on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.
