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Seattle Mariners (83-71) at Houston Astros (68-87), 2:10 p.m. (ET)

(SportsNetwork.com) - After blowing a chance to gain ground in the wild card race, the Seattle Mariners will try to avoid a series loss on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game set with the Houston Astros.

Seattle watched Houston hit five home runs in last night's 10-1 setback, one that proved costly for the Mariners. They remained a half-game back of Kansas City for the second wild card spot after the Royals lost to Detroit on Saturday.

Robinson Cano drove in the lone run of the game for Seattle, which had won three of four coming in, but starter Chris Young was tagged for seven runs and four homers over three-plus innings.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said of Young. "The fact is we're down the home stretch right now, so what do you do? He's a veteran guy and he said he feels good. Tonight it just didn't come out very well."

Jake Marisnick hit a three-run homer, Chris Carter and Alex Presley had two- run homers in the first inning and Matt Dominguez and Carlos Corporan led off the fourth frame with solo shots to chase Young.

Dallas Keuchel scattered a run on seven hits with eight strikeouts over eight solid innings as Houston snapped a four-game slide.

"That was pretty easy," said Houston interim manager Tom Lawless. "Just watching Dallas go out there, and the offense scoring bunches of runs early in the game. All we had to do was sit back and watch."

The Mariners hope to watch Hisashi Iwakuma pitch them into the playoff picture as the hurler tries to avoid a third straight losing start.

The righty has struggled in consecutive losses on the heels of a five-decision win streak. He gave up four runs over 4 1/3 innings in a loss to Houston on Sept. 10, then lasted just 3 1/3 innings on Monday versus the Los Angeles Angels. He gave up a career-high seven runs on six hits and two walks.

"The Angels just did a nice job tonight," McClendon said. "Truthfully, when we took (Iwakuma) out of the game, they didn't do much offensively."

Iwakuma is 14-8 with a 3.24 earned run average, including 2-2 with a 4.88 ERA in four starts versus the Astros this season.

The Astros turn to Collin McHugh, who has not lost since July 27 and is 10-9 with a 2.66 ERA on the year.

McHugh won his fourth straight start and sixth decision in a row on Monday, picking up a 3-1 win over Cleveland. He allowed just one unearned run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven without a walk before getting lifted because he took a liner off his left wrist.

The right-hander beat Seattle on Sept. 9, giving up a run and two hits over eight innings, improving to 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA in four games against them lifetime.

Seattle has won 10 of its 18 matchups with the Astros this season.

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