Mariners complete sweep of Astros to tighten wild-card race

Eugenio Suarez clubbed a two-run home run while Dominic Canzone and Dylan Moore recorded four-hit games as the visiting Seattle Mariners completed a three-game series sweep of the Houston Astros with a 7-6 victory on Sunday.

The Mariners extended their winning streak to six games while completing their sixth series sweep of the season. They did so by chasing Astros rookie right-hander Hunter Brown in the third inning after their own rookie right-hander, Emerson Hancock, departed after just two innings with a right shoulder strain.

The Mariners are 16-4 over their last 20 games and pulled to within a half-game of Houston in the American League wild-card picture.

Seattle reliever Matt Brash (9-4) got the win after pitching 1 1/3 scoreless frames. Gabe Speier earned his first save.

Suarez doubled the Mariners' lead to 4-0 with his 426-foot blast to left field off Brown (9-9) with two outs in the second inning. Seattle extended its lead to 6-0 in the third when nine-hole hitter Brian O'Keefe lined a two-out, two-run double down the third base line that plated Canzone and Josh Rojas.

That was the final batter for Brown, who allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings.

Houston, which fell to 2-8 against the Mariners this season, capitalized after Hancock departed. The Astros scored five runs in the home half of the third when the first five batters reached safely against Mariners left-hander Tayler Saucedo. Yordan Alvarez delivered a two-run single before Yainer Diaz added an RBI single that chased Saucedo and sliced the deficit to 6-3.

Mauricio Dubon produced a two-run double three batters later off Trent Thornton, but the Astros proved unable to pull even.

The Mariners tacked on a critical insurance run in the fifth off Astros left-hander Parker Mushinski when Moore plated Mike Ford with an RBI single. Canzone and Moore both finished 4-for-5 with an RBI, with Canzone adding a pair of doubles. Rojas went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs.

The Astros closed to within one run again in the sixth when Alex Bregman followed a one-out double from Pena with an RBI triple. Mariners relievers Justin Topa, Andres Munoz and Gabe Speier combined to blank the Astros over their final three at-bats.