Mariners ‘bad’ in 5-2 loss to Astros

Jose Altuve had two hits to reach 200 in helping the Astros chase starter Hisashi Iwakuma and slow the Mariners’ playoff push Wednesday night.

“Kuma had a bad outing, the hitters had a bad outing, the defense had a bad outing, everything was bad,” McClendon said.

Asked what he thought about Iwakuma’s effort, McClendon added: “He was throwing a lot of bad pitches.

The Mariners, who lost two of three in the series, are a half-game behind Detroit for the second AL wild card.

The best indicator was his one-out walk to Jon Singleton in the second, only the 15th walk issued by Iwakuma in 161 2-3 innings this season.

In Iwakuma’s 24 previous starts, opponents had scored a combined three runs in the second inning.

He allowed two runs on four hits, striking out five and walking none, before leaving with a 4-2 lead.

“We won this game, I got 200 hits and the team is playing great.

Altuve reached 200 hits in his 146th game.

The Mariners have their final off day of the season Thursday before their critical weekend series against Oakland.