Shortstop J.P. Crawford provided the big blow Sunday with a second-inning grand slam against righty Jason Alexander. Catcher and MVP candidate Cal Raleigh followed with a two-run home run later in the inning. It was his 58th of the season, extending his single-season record for a catcher, a switch-hitter, and a Mariner.

Sunday's 7-3 loss to Seattle left Houston in a three-game deficit with six to play. "We have to go out there and win," Carlos Correa said.

When Cal Raleigh crushed his 57th home run of the year into the Astros' bullpen Saturday night to pass Ken Griffey Jr. for Seattle's single-season record, Houston's longtime bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte scrambled to grab it.

In perhaps their biggest regular-season series in the past five seasons, the Mariners strolled into Daikin Park and swept the Astros to take a three-game lead in the AL West.

Houston entered Sunday night two games behind the Mariners atop the AL West and a half-game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final AL wild card spot. Alvarez’s return in the Angels series could be the difference between making or missing the playoffs, but McTaggart also said “that doesn’t seem likely.”

Jeremy Peña was in the Astros' initial lineup before being scratched less than two hours before first pitch against the Mariners.

Our Mariners vs. Astros predictions think Eugenio Suarez might just get the better of Jason Alexander on Sunday Night Baseball.

With a week left in the regular season, the Astros are out of the American League playoff picture. The Seattle Mariners’ 6-4 win on Saturday gave them a two-game lead in the American League West, a division the Astros have won each of the past seven 162-game seasons.