Relentless Seattle Mariners put themselves in prime position for division title

With a three-game sweep of Houston over the weekend, the Seattle Mariners tightened the race for the American League West. Seattle dominated the defending World Series champs, leading them in all 27 innings and outscoring the Astros, 19-9.

Just two games behind the first-place Rangers, Seattle is in prime position to make a run for the division title, even with Houston sandwiched in between. According to Tankathon, the M's have the sixth-easiest remaining schedule in the majors; the Astros and Rangers have the third easiest and 12th hardest, respectively.

“I can’t say enough about the competitiveness of our group. These guys don’t quit,” said Seattle manager Scott Servais after the sweep of the Astros, per MLB.com. 

Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez led the charge offensively for the Mariners. Rodriguez has an MLB-record 17 hits in the past five games, including nine against the Astros during the sweep. He is slashing .278/.336/.462/.798 and leads Seattle in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging. 

Outfielder/infielder Dylan Moore and outfielder Dominic Canzone also played key roles in the offensive outburst, with Moore also collecting nine hits (including two HRs) in two games. Canzone had four hits Sunday. The two combined for 13 hits and five RBIs in the past two games. 

"We've got some big goals for this team. We're exactly where we want to be. With the pitching staff we have, we're in a good spot," said Canzone. Seattle has the second-best ERA (3.69) and fourth-best batting average against (.236) in the majors.

Seattle’s starting pitchers outdueled Houston all weekend. Rookie Bryce Miller turned in 6.1 shutout innings Friday night, and Logan Gilbert pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs Saturday.

The Mariners, who entered the weekend six games behind the Texas Rangers for the AL West lead and a half-game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the last AL wild-card spot, gained four games on Texas and hold the wild card by one game over Toronto. 

Seattle will conclude its 10-game road trip with a three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox, which continues Tuesday.