George Kirby once again pitches Mariners past Astros

George Kirby posted a season-high seven strikeouts while Julio Rodriguez homered as the visiting Seattle Mariners claimed the opener of a four-game series against the Houston Astros with a 3-1 victory on Monday.

Kirby (5-2) continued his stellar pitching against the Astros. He entered his 11th career regular-season start against Houston with a 5-1 record and 2.17 ERA, and while he logged a season-low five innings, Kirby maintained his previous standard of success.

The Astros managed seven hits off Kirby, all singles. Jose Altuve recorded two singles against Kirby but was erased in the bottom of the first when Yordan Alvarez rolled into a double play.

Isaac Paredes finished 3-for-3 against Kirby, including an RBI single in the fifth that plated Altuve. But Kirby followed with inning-ending strikeouts of Christian Walker after Paredes singled in the first and third innings, and he included consecutive fielder's choice grounders after Altuve, Alvarez and Paredes strung together consecutive one-out singles in the fifth inning.

Cam Smith became the second right-handed hitter to work a walk off Kirby, and he did so in the second and fourth innings. But Kirby stranded Smith at second base in the second and recorded three strikeouts in the third to strand two more baserunners.

Kirby matched his season high of 99 pitches, and he failed to retire the Astros in order in any of his five frames. But he allowed only one run and walked two.

Astros right-hander Peter Lambert (2-3) matched his career high of seven innings for a second consecutive start. But the Mariners struck for a pair of runs in the top of the second when Dominic Canzone and Cole Young, batting eighth and ninth in the order, stroked back-to-back RBI singles with two outs that plated Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley.

Rodriguez, who narrowly missed homering in his first at-bat, smacked an 0-2 fastball from Lambert 414 feet to left field leading off the third, his seventh homer upping the lead to 3-0.

Seattle closer Andres Munoz, the Mariners' fourth reliever of the game, notched his eighth save with a strikeout of Alvarez and Altuve (3-for-5) on first.