SEATTLE _ That swing _ the balance, the drive with the legs, the bat through the zone and the unmistakable sound it produces _ had been absent for 80 games and was missed by the Seattle Mariners.
It returned in earnest Monday night
The results from that swing _ for example, a three-run homer to break a tie game against American League West rival Houston on Monday _ also were missed, especially since July 1 when the Mariners' offense faded into regression.
Yes, Robinson Cano's absence was of his own doing, something he's admitted on multiple occasions. But he's back now and he provided a stunning reminder of how important he could be to this team in the final 36 games of the season to get to somewhere it has not been since 2001.
Cano smashed the game-deciding three-run homer _ his first home run since returning from that suspension for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy _ in the eighth inning to lead the Mariners to a stunning 7-4 victory over the Astros.
Cano's fifth homer of the season highlighted an eventful eight inning that saw Dee Gordon get into an argument with home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski and manager Scott Servais get tossed for defending Gordon and preventing him from getting ejected.
Closer Edwin Diaz notched save No. 48 on the season, working a 1-2-3 ninth as the Mariners improved to 72-54. Diaz's 48th save tied the club record set by Fernando Rodney in 2014.
Seattle starter Felix Hernandez did his job. He shook off some early trouble _ specifically the hot bat of Marwin Gonzalez _ to give the Mariners six innings pitched, four runs allowed on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
It wasn't vintage dominance or even a quality start, but he kept the Mariners in the game, which is the expectation for any Seattle starter at this point in the season.
Normally, it's the reigning AL Most Valuable Player, Jose Altuve, who torments Hernandez in these games. But with Altuve on the disabled list and scheduled to come back Tuesday, it was Gonzalez who provided the hitting torture.
Gonzalez gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the first inning, crushing a solo homer off the facade of the open-air portion of the Hit It Here Cafe in right field.
The Mariners answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning against Astros starter Gerrit Cole. Mitch Haniger led off with a single, advanced to third on Cano's double to right and scored on Jean Segura's ground ball to shortstop. Cano later scored on Denard Span's sacrifice fly to left field.
Gonzalez continued his carnage in the third inning. After Hernandez made the obvious mistake of walking No. 9 hitter Tony Kemp after getting up 0-2 in the count, Alex Bregman singled and Gonzalez smacked a double into right-center to score both runners. Gonzalez later hustled home on a wild pitch from Hernandez to make it 4-2.
The Mariners crawled back into the game, aided by the outfielder they brought up to help provide a spark to the offense. Ben Gamel, who was sent to Class AAA Tacoma on July 31 despite a .290 batting average, came through in his first game back. He singled to right field to start the fourth and scored on Mike Zunino's line-drive double to left-center to cut the lead to 4-3.
Leading off the sixth and facing left-handed relief specialist Tony Sipp, Gamel bounced a double over the wall in center and later scored on Haniger's two-out single to center.
