Mariners tag McHugh for eight
Houston Astros starter Collin McHugh struggled in his outing today, surrendering eight runs on nine hits including two big flies as the Seattle Mariners cruised with an 8-1 win today at Minute Made Park.
It was fun while it lasted, but apparently it was an opposite day at the ballpark. In case you missed it, Houston tagged King Felix Hernandez for a whopping eight runs in the very first inning behind a three-run shot by Luis Valbuena and a two-run homer by Jason Castro that forced him out of the game.
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Seattle hung a five-spot to lead off the game starting with Nelson Cruz‘s RBI single that drove in Austin Jackson while advancing Robinson Cano to third base. Kyle Seager made it 2-0 on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Make Marisnick, allowing Cano to cross home plate to keep things going for the second out of the inning.
Recently acquired Mark Trumbo singled on the second pitch of his at-bat to move Cruz over a base, setting up an opportunity for the Mariners with two outs. After a brief meeting on the mound, McHugh gave up a three-run shot to Logan Morrison to right center field to grab the 5-0 lead.
Morrison was at it again in the top half of the third, launching yet another big fly to right center. It was his second home run of the game, this time a two-run shot that brought Trumbo along with him to make it 7-0.
Speedy outfielder Austin Jackson plated their final run of the ballgame on an RBI single to center field that scored Mike Zunino.
McHugh (6-3, 5.08 ERA) was pulled after the third inning by manager A.J. Hinch and was replaced by Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez worked four scoreless innings, cooling down Seattle’s red-hot lineup to just four hits with five whiffs before he was relieved by Chad Qualls.
Opposing pitcher Mike Montgomery (1-1, 1.89 ERA) picked up his first big league win today after allowing only one earned run and six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
His only run was an RBI ground-rule double given up to outfielder George Springer during the bottom half of the fifth inning. Castro put himself in scoring position on a double to center field after Marwin Gonzalez led off with a groundout to Seager.
Rookie shortstop Carlos Correa was able to draw a six-pitch walk, setting the table for both Evan Gattis and Chris Carter who were due up behind him. Gattis eventually fell on strikes while Carter grounded into a force out to Brad Miller who flipped the ball over to Cano.