SEATTLE _ The "other guy" that the Astros acquired for the final month of the season has already provided major contributions in his short time with Houston.
While much of the focus was placed on the Astros' acquisition of right-hander Justin Verlander and for good reason, Houston also added Cameron Maybin to its roster after he became expendable when his former team _ the Los Angeles Angels _ traded for Justin Upton.
For the second straight night at Safeco Field, Maybin provided the decisive runs in an Astros win, this one a 5-3 victory that completed a three-game sweep and removed a little more life from the Seattle Mariners' fading postseason hopes.
Having entered the game earlier as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, Maybin delivered in the ninth, banging a two-run homer off the right field foul pole off Mariners closer Edwin Diaz to break a 3-3 tie.
Being swept by the Astros wasn't completely unexpected for the Mariners. They've struggled to find ways to beat the division leaders well beyond this season. But coming off a sweep of the Oakland A's last weekend, the hope was for a series win. Seattle had taken two of three from Houston at Minute Maid Park coming out of the All-Star break.
The Mariners are now 69-71 and will face the Angels _ a team they are chasing in the wild card standings _ in an ultra-important three-game series starting Friday.
Down 2-0, Seattle got a run back in the fifth inning when Kyle Seager notched his team's first hit of the game, launching a deep solo homer to center off a 1-1 breaking ball from Lance McCullers.
It was the third straight game that Seager has homered in, giving him 22 total on the season.
Seattle took the lead briefly in the bottom of the sixth.
Jean Segura led off with a triple to left-center off McCullers and he later scored on Robinson Cano's line drive to left that tied the game at 2-2. Nelson Cruz followed with a single up the middle, ending McCullers' outing. Seattle took the lead two batters later when Mitch Haniger singled up the middle off Will Harris _ the third pitcher used in the inning _ to score a hustling Cruz from second for a 3-2 lead.
Seattle couldn't hold the lead, losing it an inning later. Marc Rzepczynski gave up a leadoff double to Marwin Gonzalez to start the eighth inning and he later came around to score on George Springer's soft single to center off Nick Vincent with two outs.
Making his first big league start since July 26, Andrew Moore gave the Mariners more than expected. Before the game, manager Scott Servais admitted that four innings was the hope for Moore. Because of the struggles with the starting rotation, Moore was one of multiple starters in Tacoma that had their outings shortened to four innings and their rest shortened in between to prepare them for potential long relief usage.
But with crisp fastball command and better secondary pitches, Moore exceeded the minimal expectations. The rookie right-hander pitched six innings, allowing two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
The only two runs Moore allowed came in the fourth inning after he retired eight of the last nine batters he'd faced. Josh Reddick singled to lead off the inning while Yuli Gurriel worked a walk to start the problems. Gonzalez drove both runners home with a rocket of a double to deep right-center that hit the wall.
But Moore wouldn't allow any more runs. He picked off Gonzalez later to end the inning and worked the next two innings scoreless.
