Astros blow 7-run lead in disastrous loss to Mariners

SEATTLE — Never has the Astros’ biggest need been more apparent. The absence of high-leverage relief is an albatross on this otherwise awesome team. Blame for Monday’s inexcusable loss against the Mariners cannot rest solely with their beleaguered bullpen.

The display must still prompt action. General manager James Click has three days to do it. Monday’s misery may accelerate his plans. The Astros squandered a seven-run lead for the first time since May 24, 2000 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

A 7-0 lead after four innings turned into an 11-8 loss, one of the team’s worst all season. Pitching for the first time in 22 days, reliever Brooks Raley surrendered a go-ahead grand slam to Dylan Moore during the eighth, completing the collapse. Umpires ejected Raley one batter later after he threw up and in to J.P. Crawford, the final indignity on an awful night.

Astros starter Luis Garcia did the club no favors. The lineup gave him a six-run lead before he threw a pitch. It grew to seven by the fourth. Garcia could not protect it. He finished just 4 ⅔ innings, putting a massive burden on a bullpen without two of its best bullets. All-Star closer Ryan Pressly pitched both Saturday and Sunday. Cristian Javier threw Sunday, too, and the team is not comfortable using him on back-to-back days.

Only the unreliable underbelly remained. The results were rancorous. Five relievers teamed to issue three walks and allow five earned runs. Ryne Stanek faced four batters in the eighth. He retired two of them. Ty France lifted a leadoff single before Jarred Kelenic, he of three strikeouts on the night and a .104 batting average, worked a walk.

Without Pressly, Dusty Baker went to Raley to record the final out. Mariners manager Scott Servais countered with righthanded hitting Tom Murphy. Raley got ahead of him 0-2 before issuing a walk to load the bases. Moore mashed an elevated cutter for a grand slam. He started a celebration before the ball landed in the left-field seats.

Garcia delivered the worst start of an otherwise remarkable rookie season. He struck out a career-high nine batters but allowed a career-high five earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings. A sixth crossed unearned — but only due to Garcia’s throwing error.

Garcia required only 38 pitches to finish the first three frames. He needed 49 to procure the next five outs. Command escaped him in stretches. Seattle struck some hittable pitches. Frustration appeared evident for a normally unflappable righthander. He yielded a leadoff single during both the fourth and fifth.

Garcia threw away one opportunity to escape his fourth-inning woes. Kyle Seager worked a walk after J.P. Crawford’s single. France chopped a cutter back to Garcia. The pitcher corralled it but threw high to Jose Altuve covering second. Altuve leapt and made the catch, but his foot clearly came off the bag.

A replay review overturned umpire Tripp Gibson’s incorrect call and loaded the bases. Cal Raleigh struck Garcia’s next pitch to the right-field wall to clear them, pulling Seattle within four runs.

Garcia alternated two strikeouts and two singles to start the fifth. One out away from escape, Garcia got ahead of Kyle Seager 0-2. He threw a putaway changeup Seager did not chase before coming back with a four-seam fastball. Catcher Martín Maldonado set up elevated. Garcia delivered a ball down the middle. Seager smacked it for a three-run home run.

Garcia threw his right hand in the air upon contact. Baker ascended the steps of his dugout and called to the bullpen — a fatal choice he had to make.