HOUSTON — – Mitch Garver and Julio Rodríguez homered, and the Seattle Mariners took advantage of five Houston errors during an 8-1 victory over the Astros on Wednesday.

Seattle (82-77) won for the fifth time in seven games as it tried to clinch an AL wild card. It is chasing Detroit and Kansas City for one of the last two spots.

“We’ve got three to go now and we just keep grinding,” manager Dan Wilson said. “We have everything right in front of us. Three games we need to win and probably get some help along the way. But we just have to do what we do and not worry about anything else.”

The Mariners trailed 1-0 before rallying in the sixth. Dylan Moore reached on the first of four errors by rookie third baseman Shay Whitcomb, who entered in the fourth inning. Victor Robles walked and Cal Raleigh hit an one-out single to load the bases.

Justin Turner then extended his on-base streak to 20 consecutive games with his single on a line drive to left field that scored two.

Garver led off the seventh with his 14th home run on a line drive to the left field seats. The Mariners added two more runs in the inning thanks to three errors by the Astros, including two more by Whitcomb.

“Offensively, we had some breaks later and took advantage of some of their mistakes,” Wilson said. “Later in the match we were able to add more and more.”

A fourth error by Whitcomb allowed Moore to reach base with no outs in the ninth, then scored on a double by Robles. Rodríguez then hit his 20th homer of the season.

“I’ll have a conversation with Whitcomb, but we’ll turn the page,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “This is a confident third baseman. He did it in the minor leagues.”

Yusei Kikuchi (9-10) struck out eight in six innings in his first loss to Houston. He was charged with two unearned runs and four hits.

The Astros won Kikuchi’s first nine starts after he was acquired in a July 29 trade with Toronto. He went 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA during that stretch.

George Kirby (14-11) pitched six innings with four hits in his third straight win for Seattle. He struck out six and walked one.

Victor Caratini hit an RBI single in the third for the Astros, who played without many of their regulars a day after capturing their fourth straight AL West title.

There was a special moment for Alex Bregman in the fourth inning of what could be his final regular-season home game at Minute Maid Park. He will be eligible for free agency after this season.

Bregman trotted to third base, but Espada lifted him for a defensive replacement before the inning started. Bregman walked slowly to the dugout and received a standing ovation. He paused before entering the dugout and tipped his cap to the crowd.

He admitted that the moment affected him.

“A little bit,” he said. “But I’m just trying to focus on the postseason, to be honest. Maybe at the end of the year we can look back and think about it, but right now my mentality is to win.”

Bregman was selected No. 2 overall by Houston in the 2015 amateur draft and has spent his entire career with the Astros.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: OF/DH Yordan Alvarez will not travel with the team on its upcoming road trip, but will remain in Houston to receive treatment for his sprained right knee. Espada said Alvarez had gotten better on Wednesday and that some of the swelling had gone down since he was injured in a slide on Sunday.

NEXT

Mariners: Open a three-game series against the Athletics on Friday night in Seattle.

Astros: Travels to Cleveland for a three-game series starting Friday night.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb