Arrighetti allows 2 hits in 6 shutout innings, Astros beat Mariners 4-0 to avoid series sweep

SEATTLE (AP) Spencer Arrighetti allowed two hits over six shutout innings to help the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 on Thursday and avoid a four-game series sweep.

Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer in the fourth against Mariners starter Logan Gilbert (3-3). Kyle Tucker led off the inning with a single and Bregman put Houston up by a pair of runs with a shot that barely cleared the left-field wall.

“I thought it was for sure a double over his head, but when I hit it I knew I squared it up pretty good,” Bregman said. “Fortunately it snuck over.”

Bregman added a triple in the sixth inning that just escaped the grasp of a leaping Julio Rodríguez in center field, and scored on a groundball to second base from catcher Victor Caratini to give Houston a four-run lead.

Caratini also hit a solo homer in the fifth against Gilbert, who allowed four earned runs and eight hits over six innings of work.

While the Astros found success against Gilbert, the Mariners offense couldn’t do much against Arrighetti (3-5), who allowed just a pair of singles while issuing three walks.

“I feel like there was a lot of at-bats that I kind of threw some really bad waste pitches, which I'm not really a fan of, " Arrighetti said. "But I was able to keep fighting and stay in it, and so I'm really happy that we were able to put some runs up, had some great swings from the hitters today, and I was able to give us a chance.”

Rafael Montero, Ryan Pressly, and Josh Hader each pitched one scoreless inning in relief of Arrighetti, who struck out a career-high eight Mariners hitters.

“He believes in his stuff,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He can go and execute his pitches, he knows where to go, getting swings and misses. I thought him and Caratini did a really good job executing the game plan.”

Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford had a highlight-reel play in the seventh, when he dove for a groundball off the bat of Mauricio Dubón and flipped it with his glove to second baseman Dylan Moore, who threw to first for the out.

The Mariners are now 14-6 against Houston since the start of the 2023 season.

“I thought overall, the series, it was very competitive and the games were close," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "We didn't do a whole lot offensively, but we pitched outstanding. Today, we needed to pick up our pitching a little bit offensively, and we were not able to do it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros manager Joe Espada said the team will have an update on injured starting pitchers José Urquidy and Cristian Javier when the team returns to Houston on Friday. Both pitchers were recently put on the injured list with right forearm discomfort. … Mariners OF Luke Raley was out of the lineup on Thursday because of lat soreness.

UP NEXT

Houston: RHP Ronel Blanco (5-0, 1.99 ERA) will pitch Friday for the Astros in the series home opener against the Twins, as he tries to keep his perfect record in his 10th start of the season.

Mariners: RHP Bryan Woo (2-0, 1.66 ERA) gets the ball for Seattle on Friday against the LA Angels.

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