Mariners hold on to beat Astros behind Iwakuma

Seattle, WA---

Hisashi Iwakuma improved to 7-1 on the season as he gave up only an unearned run as the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 on Monday night.

Iwakuma allowed four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts, throwing 105 pitches. Iwakuma's 1.79 ERA is second in the American League behind Boston's Clay Buchholz at 1.71.

Raul Ibanez homered in the fourth inning, his team-leading 12th of the season, to tie the game at 1.

Seattle scored the go-ahead run in the fifth, when Kyle Seager raced home from second on a high-hop single to third by Kendrys Morales, scoring when Dominguez's low throw got past Carter at first base.

The Mariners finally gave Iwakuma a little cushion in the seventh with an RBI double by Michael Morse.

Seager's 13-game hitting streak came to an end with an 0-for-5 night, but rookie second baseman Carlos Triunfel picked up his first hit of the season in his 14th at-bat with a fifth-inning single.