It must be something about winning streaks and the Seattle Mariners that doesn’t sit right with the Houston Astros.

The Mariners were one of the hottest teams in baseball after the first half of the season, touting a major-league-best 14-game winning streak into the All-Star break. Sitting on their schedule coming out of the break was a three-game home stand against the Astros, who held a double-digit lead over the Mariners for first place in the American League West Division.

By the time Houston left T-Mobile Park, Seattle had started a new streak by losing all three games to the Astros.

As the Astros headed to Oakland to take on the A’s, the Mariners welcomed the Texas Rangers to their home ballpark. They won all three games against the Rangers and headed to Minute Maid Park to face Houston on a winning streak just as they had to start the second half of the season.

The factors were different as the Astros were coming off one of their worst season performances after being swept by the A’s. Seattle figured they would seek revenge in the four games they were scheduled to play in Houston and possibly gain some ground in the standings.

Neither happened as the Astros went 3-1 in the series, with their only loss coming after a rare blown save by closer Ryan Pressly in the ninth inning on Saturday. If a statement was made the last time the two clubs will face each other for the season, Houston let it be known that they still dominate the A.L. West by winning the season series 12-7. The Astros have gone 30-7 against the Mariners at Minute Maid Park since 2019.

In their last ten games, Seattle is 4-6, with all six losses coming against Houston.

“They were hard-fought games,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said about the four-game series against the Mariners that concluded on Sunday. “They’re a quality team. They’re hurting a little bit today, but every time that you beat somebody in your division, that’s a two-game gain. That was huge today and a big difference between 10 and 12 [games up].”