Mariners turn early struggles around with huge four-game sweep of Astros

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Apr 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — The once-bullied are now the bullies.

After usurping the Houston Astros’ reign atop the American League West late last season in Houston, sweeping the perennial divisional winner in front of their own fans in three games at Daikin Park, the Seattle Mariners validated their expected dominance over their longtime nemesis over the past four days at T-Mobile Park.

With a decisive 6-2 victory on an overcast Monday afternoon, the Mariners completed a sweep of the Astros in the rare four-game series, helping alleviate some of the consternation from an awful six-game road trip where they lost the final five games.

Seattle (8-9) will venture out for a quick three-game road trip, starting Tuesday to face their “natural” rivals — the San Diego Padres — at Petco Park.

With the shift in the MLB schedule before the 2023 season, expanding interleague play and reducing the number of division games, the instances of a four-game series were greatly reduced.

A sweep of the series has been dubbed a “mop” by baseball social media mavens “Cespedes Family BBQ.” It was a fitting metaphor for the series between two teams going in very opposite directions.

George Kirby gave the Mariners yet another quality start, pitching 7 2/3 innings and allowing just two runs to improve to 2-2, while Josh Naylor provided the bulk of the offense, smashing a pair of a homers — a three-run blast in the first inning and a mammoth two-run shot in the third — off Houston starter Mike Burrows.

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