Seattle Mariners Fail to Pull Off Sweep, Fall 11-3 to Houston Astros in Series Finale
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SEATTLE — An early lead and early hook for Houston Astros ace Hunter Brown wasn't enough for the Seattle Mariners to pull off the win Sunday at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners lost 11-3 to the Astros in the series finale and dropped to 53-46 on the season. The M's dropped to four games behind Houston in the American League West and tied back with the Boston Red Sox for the two final AL Wild Card spots after the loss.
"This was a day where, we got an early lead but (Houston) came back," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview. "And they played to what they normally do. ... This is an offense that likes do that, and that's what they did today. Overall, we took the series and got another series starting tomorrow."
Seattle, as it has done often of the season, was effective against the best starting pitcher its opponent had to offer. The Mariners put up three runs on 2025 All-Star Brown across the third and fourth innings.
Jorge Polanco accounted for the first two with a single in the bottom of the third and Julio Rodriguez brought home the team's last run of the day with a single in the bottom of the fourth.
Brown's day was done after the fourth inning. He struck out seven, walked two, hit a batter and allowed three earned runs on six hits.
HIP, HIP, JORGE! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/wMlQPeSKTN
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 20, 2025
The Mariners were unable to add to their lead, and finished the game 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.
The Astros were able to get to Seattle's All-Star starter, Bryan Woo, with a five-run spurt across the fifth and sixth innings.
Former Mariner Taylor Trammell scored Houston's first run in the top of the fifth after J.P. Crawford failed to pull in a shallow fly to left field. Crawford was dinged with a fielding error on the play. Cam Smith was able to tie the game later in the frame with a two-run double.
Christian Walker kept the momentum going in the sixth and ambushed the first pitch he saw for a lead-off, solo home run to left field. Trammell added another stamp to his revenge game with a solo shot of his own to right. The Astros led 5-3 after the sixth after trailing 3-0 going into the fifth.
We have liftoff! #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/ysovbkwOvO
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 20, 2025
Woo's day was done after the sixth. He fanned six, walked one and allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits (two home runs).
"Pretty frustrating," Woo said in a postgame interview. "That just — that can't happen. Got a game like that, you get to two games and you got a lead, I just got to do a better job. ... It sucks. Frustrating to say the least."
Seattle's best chance to get back into the game was in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, J.P. Crawford appeared to bring home Miles Mastrobuoni with an RBI double. Houston successfully challenged the call, Mastrobuoni was ruled out at home and the inning ended.
The Mariners' bullpen wasn't able to keep the team within striking position. Casey Legumina and Juan Burgos pitched the final three innings and combined to strike out two, walk one and allowed six earned runs on seven hits.
The one benefit to how the game ended was Seattle, which used every reliever but Burgos in its 11-inning win against the Astros on Saturday, was able to preserve the bullpen for an upcoming three-game series against the white-hot Milwaukee Brewers.
"I think both bullpens were a little thing and we were able to get six out of Bryan, which was really big," Wilson said. "He's done that all season long and been really consistent about getting us that deep. He set us up to where we wanted to be."
The series between the Mariners and Brewers begins at 6:40 p.m. PT on Monday. George Kirby will start for Seattle and Brandon Woodruff will start for Milwaukee.
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