The Houston Astros couldn’t solve George Kirby on Monday night, falling 3-1 to the Seattle Mariners at Daikin Park to drop to 16-26—10 games below .500 for the first time since May 2024, and tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the worst record in the American League.
The loss was the Astros’ third straight and extended Seattle’s winning streak against Houston to eight consecutive games, a run that includes last season’s division-clinching sweep at Daikin Park and a four-game sweep in April in Seattle. The Mariners have won the season series against the Astros three straight years and are now up 5-0 in 2026 with eight matchups remaining.
Kirby was the story for most of the night. The right-hander allowed just one run on seven hits over five innings, lowering his career ERA against Houston to 2.14 in 11 starts. He struck out seven and walked two. The Astros outhit the Mariners 9-7 but mustered no extra-base hits and went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base.
The damage against starter Peter Lambert came early and from the bottom of Seattle’s order. With one out in the second, Randy Arozarena singled and Luke Raley walked. After J.P. Crawford lined out, Dominic Canzone ripped a single to left to score Arozarena, and Cole Young followed with a run-scoring single to right to make it 2-0. Lambert then gave up a solo home run to Julio Rodríguez in the third—a 414-foot blast to left off the Astros Community Leaders sign below the train tracks—and that was all Seattle would need.
Lambert settled in after that, retiring 14 of the final 16 batters he faced and finishing with seven innings pitched, three runs allowed, six strikeouts, and one walk on 96 pitches. It was his second straight quality start and his second straight outing of seven innings, following seven shutout frames against the Dodgers last week. Since being called up from Triple-A Sugar Land, Lambert has made five starts and posted a 2.76 ERA.
The Astros’ lone run came in the fifth. Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez singled to put runners on the corners, and Isaac Paredes drove in Altuve with a ground ball single to left. That was as close as Houston would get. The top three of Altuve, Alvarez, and Paredes combined to go 7-for-14, but all nine of the team’s hits were singles, and the lineup went quietly after Kirby’s exit.
The Astros open the second game of the series Tuesday with Tatsuya Imai scheduled to make his return from the injured list.
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