HOUSTON (AP) — Eugenio Suárez hit his 47th homer, three other Mariners went deep and Bryan Woo pitched five effective innings before leaving unexpectedly as Seattle beat the Houston Astros 4-0 on Friday night to take over first place in the AL West.
The surging Mariners (85-69) have won 11 of 12 to wrest control of the division away from the Astros with eight games remaining. The teams play twice more this weekend before Seattle closes the season by hosting Colorado and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Astros fell into a tie with Boston for the final two American League wild-card spots, with Cleveland 1 1/2 games behind.
Woo (15-7) yielded one hit and one walk and struck out seven, but the All-Star right-hander departed after a couple of warmup tosses in the sixth, having thrown just 67 pitches. It was Woo’s ninth straight outing surrendering three runs or fewer, and he lowered his ERA to 2.94. He has 198 strikeouts this season.
Julio Rodriguez homered in the first inning for the Mariners. Suárez’s off the train tracks above the Crawford Boxes in left field in the fourth made it 2-0.
Victor Robles led off the seventh with a homer, and Josh Naylor connected in the eighth.
Hunter Brown (12-8) allowed two runs and struck out nine in six innings. Brown has 201 strikeouts this season.
With runners on first and second and one out in the fourth, Woo struck out Jose Altuve and Zach Cole to quell Houston’s lone threat.
Seattle leads the season series 6-5.
Houston LHP Framber Valdez (12-10, 3.59 ERA) opposes Seattle RHP George Kirby (9-7, 4.46) on Saturday night.
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