Seattle Mariners Start Second Half on Solid Note With 6-1 Win Over Houston Astros

Castillo had to work through a high early pitch count and a jamp to finish off his quality start. He threw 23 pitches in the first inning, but left a runner stranded on second. He had two runners in scoring position in the third, and struck out Jose Altuve to leave them stranded. Castillo retired the side in order in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

The Mariners offense struggled for most of the game, but offered Castillo multiple runs of support via a pair of solo home runs.

Randy Arozarena hit a 445-foot shot to left field in the bottom of the fourth and Mitch Garver hit a 420-foot shot to dead-center field in the bottom of the seventh. Both homers were with two outs.

It was Arozarena's 10th homer since June 30, which leads the majors during that stretch. He and teammate Cal Raleigh are the only players in baseball to have a 14-game stretch of 10 or more homers this season.

"(Arozarena) just continues," M's manager Dan Wilson said after the game. "I thought, going on the road trip (before the All-Star Break), he picked up right where he left off at home and then now, coming through the break and the All-Star Game, he's just continuing to stay on that roll. ... Just continues to come up big with those home runs."

The Astros threatened to get back into the game in the top of the eighth. Isaac Paredes hit an RBI double to score Brice Matthews and cut Seattle's lead to 2-1 in the top of the eighth.

The Mariners got that run back plus a lot more in the home half of the frame. J.P. Crawford hit an RBI single, Raleigh hit an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch and Donovan Solano brought home Julio Rodriguez with a sacrifice fly. Seattle's lead bolstered to the eventual final of 6-1 after the eighth.

The four-run eighth allowed the Mariners to preserve All-Star closer Andres Munoz. Eduard Bazardo instead closed out the game and retired the side in the top of the ninth to send the crowd of 41,834 people home happy.

Seattle will try and clinch the series win against its arch rivals in Game 2 of the series at 6:40 p.m. PT on Saturday. Logan Evans will start for the Mariners and Lance McCullers Jr. will start for the Astros.