The Seattle Mariners are feeling pretty good after beating Houston All-Sta

HOUSTON (AP) — rs Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole on consecutive nights.Still http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-cozart-jersey , they know they have a lot more work to do as they chase their first playoff berth since 2001.“We came here and wanted to start playing some better games and that’s what we’ve done,” manager Scott Servais said. “We’re just playing better baseball right now and the top of the lineup has been really swinging the bat well.”Nelson Cruz hit a tiebreaking two-run double in a three-run eighth inning to lift the Mariners a 5-2 victory over the Astros on Friday night.Houston leads the AL West and Seattle is 2 1/2 games behind Oakland for the second wild-card spot.Mitch Haniger doubled with one out in the eighth, and Denard Span singled to chase Cole (10-5). The double by Haniger was his fifth extra-base hit in the last two games after he doubled in the sixth Friday and had two doubles and a homer Thursday.Cole was replaced by Ryan Pressly, whose first pitch plunked Jean Segura on the top of his left hand. Cruz then smashed a ball off the wall in left-center to score Haniger and Span and make it 4-2. The Mariners tacked on a run when Segura scored on a groundout by Kyle Seager.“They’ve got a really good club,” Servais said. “You’ve got to pitch them really well, you’ve got to keep them down because you know it’s going to be tight ball games here and we got some big hits late.”Seattle starter Mike Leake allowed eight hits and two runs in six innings. Adam Warren (1-1) allowed one hit in a scoreless seventh for the win and Edwin Diaz struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 44th save.Cole yielded six hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings for his season-high third straight loss.The Astros had trouble stringing hits together until Marwin Gonzalez and Tyler White hit consecutive singles with no outs in the fifth inning. Martin Maldonado then reached on a fielder’s choice that left Gonzalez out at home.Tony Kemp’s single to center field with two outs scored White to make it 1-0. Alex Bregman followed with an RBI double to push the lead to 2-0 before Carlos Correa grounded out to end the inning and leave Kemp stranded at third. Correa was 0 for 3 in his return after missing more than a month with a sore lower back.Cole sailed through the first five innings, retiring 15 of the first 16 batters he faced with the only baserunner coming on a double by Cruz to start the second inning. He’d sat down 12 straight when Cameron Maybin singled to start the sixth inning. Cole then walked Dee Gordon on four pitches before a double by Haniger scored Maybin to cut the lead to 2-1.Span’s single sent Gordon home to tie it up. There were two outs in the inning when center fielder Jake Marisnick made a spectacular diving catch to rob Seager of a hit and keep the game tied. Marisnick sailed through the air and snagged the ball just inches from the grass to end the inning. Cole extended both hands into the air and cheered after seeing the catch before putting his glove on his head and shaking it in relief.“Off the bat I didn’t see it great, and then I was able to get there and stretch out and save a couple of runs there for Gerrit,” Marisnick said.Marisnick was injured running the bases on a double in the seventh inning. The team said Marisnick, who is filling in at center field for an injured George Springer Michael Saunders Jersey , left the game with discomfort in his left groin.“I don’t know how he’s doing, but I’ve been on the field for too many injuries lately, so I am not very optimistic,” manager A.J. Hinch said.TRAINER’S ROOMMariners: Segura said his hand was sore from being hit by the pitch on Friday night but that X-rays were negative. He said he hoped to play on Saturday but would know more after he takes batting practice.Astros: Hinch said 2B Jose Altuve (sore right knee) is making progress, but won’t return during this homestand, which runs through Wednesday. Altuve, the reigning AL MVP, hasn’t played since July 25.OFFENSE HEATING UPThe Mariners have scored five or more runs in three straight games for the first time since June 5-7. Before the start of this streak Seattle had eclipsed four runs just once in nine games.UP NEXTHouston’s Charlie Morton (12-2, 2.81 ERA) opposes Seattle left-hander Wade LeBlanc (6-2, 3.81) when the series continues on Saturday night. Morton struck out eight in seven innings in his last start to give him a career-high 167 strikeouts this season. NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees are buying back the YES Network Ryan Goins Jersey , partnering with Amazon in a deal that will give the company the right to stream games in the team’s broadcast territory.The deal for the team’s parent company to purchase 80 percent of the network from The Walt Disney Co. values YES at $3.47 billion, nearly $500 million less than when 21st Century Fox acquired a majority stake in 2014.Yankee Global Enterprises is the lead investor and partnered with Amazon.com Inc. and Sinclair Broadcast Group as its strategic investors, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the purchase was not announced and has up to 120 days to close.Mubadala Development Co., a United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, is a minority investor along with The Blackstone Group, RedBird Capital, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and MSD Capital, which manages assets of Michael Dell and his family.YES was owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, Goldman Sachs, Providence Equity and NJ Holdings (a company then controlled by former New Jersey Nets owners Louis Katz and Ray Chambers) when YES sold a 49 percent stake to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. in late 2012. News Corp. split into two companies the following year Wily Peralta Jersey , with broadcast properties spun off to 21st Century Fox.21st Century Fox raised its stake to 80 percent in early 2014 and Yankee Global Enterprises reduced its stake from 26 percent to 20 percent in a deal that valued the network at $3.9 billion.Disney announced in December 2017 a deal to acquire Fox, a change in control that triggered Yankee Global Enterprises right-of-first refusal to buy back the YES Network shares. Disney already owns ESPN, and to gain antitrust approval it reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department last June to sell the 22 regional sports networks it was acquiring.RSNs have dropped in value with the rise in cord-cutters among consumers. The deal to invest in YES will give Amazon rights to stream the games of teams on the network within their local territories. YES broadcasts the Yankees, the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and Major League Soccer’s New York City FC team.Yankee Global Enterprises, controlled by the Steinbrenner family, owns 20 percent of NYCFC. The rest of NYCFC is owned by City Football Group, the parent company of Manchester City, City Football Group is controlled The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment. Khaldoon Al Mubarak is chairman of City Football Group and chief executive officer of Mubadala.YES has been the most-watched regional sports network in the U.S. in 14 of the last 16 years. Yankees games on YES averaged 326,000 viewers for live telecasts last season.