going the way I expected it to go,

SEATTLE -- Mike Fiers was coming off perhaps his worst start of the season. He followed it up with one of his best at a crucial time for the Houston Astros.Fiers pitched six scoreless innings Saturday night as the Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1.Houston pulled into a tie with Seattle and Detroit in the AL wild-card race, three games behind Baltimore and Toronto.In his last start, Fiers (11-7) gave up seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings in a 9-5 loss to the Cubs. Before Saturdays game, Houston manager A.J. Hinch praised Fiers perseverance, a quality that paid off against Seattle.I do expect him on any given night to come out and give a good performance, Hinch said. This is a good ballpark for him to pitch in. When he throws strikes and mixes his pitches, hes as good as weve got.Fiers gave up singles to the first two batters he faced, but allowed only one more hit. It was the third time Fiers didnt allow a run in 27 starts this season, and the three hits allowed also equaled his season best.Weve got a great starting rotation, Fiers said. Maybe things havent gone the way weve wanted them to be, but were still going out there and trying to do our job and not worry about everybody else. Just go game to game.The Astros needed a strong pitching performance, as Seattle starter James Paxton (4-7) dominated early. Paxton was perfect through five innings before allowing both runs in the sixth.At one point you get a little nervous, when you get to the middle part of the game and we hadnt had a baserunner, Hinch said. We just had to wait him out to get a good pitch.Teoscar Hernandez got the Astros first hit to lead off the sixth, a line drive that had Paxton ducking out of the way. Tyler White followed with a double, putting runners at second and third.After Jake Marisnick grounded out and Paxton struck out George Springer, Yuli Gurriel drove both runs home with a single to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.Paxton pitched through the seventh, giving up four hits with an intentional walk and seven strikeouts.The Mariners had chances to rally in the late innings but fell short.Chris Devenski relieved Fiers in the seventh inning and gave up singles to Kyle Seager and Leonys Martin, putting runners on first and second with two outs. It was the first time the Mariners had multiple baserunners in the game, but Devenski got out of the jam by striking out Mike Zunino after running the count full.In the eighth, Nori Aoki beat out an infield single for his third hit of the game, and Seth Smith followed with an RBI double off Luke Gregerson to cut the Astros lead to one.Gregerson kept Seattle from adding any more, getting Robinson Cano to strike out on a check swing and Nelson Cruz with a pop out to second to end the inning.Our guys are a little anxious. I think you can see it, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. Theres no doubt that were a better offensive club than weve shown the last few nights.TRAINERS ROOMMariners 1B Adam Lind missed his fifth straight game with a sprained finger on his right hand. Servais said Lind is day to day.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Doug Fister (12-11, 4.17 ERA) will start the series finale. Fister has lost three straight decisions, with his last win coming Aug. 22.Mariners: LHP Ariel Miranda (4-1, 4.10) will make his eighth career start and first against Houston. He has earned the win in each of his last three starts.Adrian Beltre Jersey . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. Ted Williams Jersey . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/2542h-kolby-allard-jersey-rangers.html . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. Tim Federowicz Jersey . Vettel was 0.168 seconds faster than Red Bull teammate Mark Webber around the Suzuka circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was two tenths of a second off Vettel. "The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said. Lance Berkman Rangers Jersey . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph.ASHBURN, Va. -- Dallas Cowboys running back Alfred Morris anticipated his departure from the Washington Redskins. He wasnt happy, but he accepted the inevitable. What he didnt like was something many players want: free agency.The free-agency process was very insulting, to just say the least, Morris said in a conference call with the Washington media Wednesday. I didnt like it one bit. I dont want to do it again.That process resulted in Morris signing with the Redskins biggest rival, where hes now a backup to rookie Ezekiel Elliott. Along the way, Morris said he grew tired of hearing people bash his productivity in 2015.Morris stats decreased last season for a variety of reasons. The blocking wasnt as crisp and coaches said, though they liked Morris, they didnt think he created enough holes for himself. His supporters say he was still effective. Regardless, Morris numbers in Washington went from a club-record 1,613 yards as a rookie in 2012 to 751 last year. And his yards per carry dropped from 4.8 as a rookie to 3.7 last season.The Redskins didnt make a strong attempt to re-sign him.By the end of the year, I figured my time there was gone, said Morris, a sixth-round pick by then-coach Mike Shanahan in 2012. Youre not the coachs guy, youre not the GMs guy, they draft a young guy. Its a business, so I expected that. They just had a different plan and I wasnt a part of it and that was OK.I cant cry over spilled milk. I just had to go buy me another gallon.But free agency was not OK.It was a crazy experience and just due to last season and everybody saying my production went down, a lot off people threw shots at me and tried to say, Hey, he just wasnt good, said Morris, who eventually signed a two-year deal worth up to $5.dddddddddddd5 million.He said the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos spoke with him early in free agency, but he was told they had bigger priorities than signing a running back. So they spent their money elsewhere. Morris quest for a new home took longer than he anticipated.I was like, wow, man this is not going the way I expected it to go, Morris said. Eventually Dallas came knocking. I did a visit and it just seemed like a good fit. So I said, Why not? Its a rival team, but I didnt even think about that. I was a kid trying to keep his dream alive and it just happened to fall to the rival team.Morris said wisdom from other veterans helped him. Morris said when he was a rookie, players such as DeAngelo Hall and Santana Moss helped shake the idealistic notion of the NFL out of his head. They stressed the business aspect to him. He was reminded of that this past offseason, one he hopes not to repeat.But you have to remember not to let that steal your joy, Morris said. I still get an opportunity to live my dream. Is it going the way I wanted it to go? Its not, but thats OK because Im still here. Theres millions of people who would give anything to be in our shoes. So it kept me level-headed. I knew if it wasnt there, there would be other opportunities and I just happened to fall in Dallas. Well see how this works out over time. ' ' '