HOUSTON -- Backup catcher John Buck delivered three hits and Mariners right-hander Brandon Maurer picked up his first win of the season on Sunday afternoon as Seattle continued its recent surge with an 8-7 win over the Astros.Maurer managed to get through a season-high five innings as he returns from a back injury that wiped out most of his spring. The 23-year-old allowed four runs on six hits, which was enough to get the victory as Seattle's bats stayed hot for a second straight day at Minute Maid Park.Buck went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI while hitting from the No. 9 spot in the order to lead an 12-hit attack.
On the heels of a 9-8 victory Saturday, the Mariners put up three doubles and a triple and knocked Astros starter Collin McHugh out with six runs in the first four frames. McHugh saw his ERA rise from 0.59 to 2.79 as he suffered his first loss in three starts.The victory pulled the Mariners within a game of .500 at 14-15, as they've won seven of their last nine since snapping an eight-game skid. Seattle took two of three from the Astros, who fell to 10-21. The Mariners are 9-4 at Minute Maid Park over the past two years, though they lead the overall series just 13-12 in that span.Seattle is 4-1 on a tough cross-country trip that started with a pair of wins in New York and now concludes back on the West Coast with four games in three days in Oakland.Robinson Cano hit his first triple as a Mariner to highlight a four-run third inning that also included a two-run double by Willie Bloomquist and an RBI single by Corey Hart.Cano went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, driving in Seattle's first run with an infield grounder in the first and plating Bloomquist with his triple in the third.Center fielder Michael Saunders and designated hitter Hart each had two hits, a run and an RBI.Maurer is now 1-0 with a 6.92 ERA in three starts since moving into the rotation after injuries to James Paxton and Blake Beavan.Tom Wilhelmsen pitched two perfect innings of relief in the sixth and seventh, but Charlie Furbush gave up two hits leading off the eighth and both runners scored when pinch-hitter Marc Krauss greeted Danny Farquhar with a first-pitch single.Farquhar retired the next three in order to get out of the eighth with an 8-6 lead and then allowed one run in the ninth before holding on for his first save of the season.Greg Johns / MLB.com
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