SEATTLE -- Though the Mariners are the team in a tight playoff race, it was the Houston Astros who played like contenders Tuesda

SEATTLE -- Though the Mariners are the team in a tight playoff race, it was the Houston Astros who played like contenders Tuesday night. Max Scharping Jersey . Jonathan Villar hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning to lift Collin McHugh and the Astros to a 2-1 victory over Seattle. Logan Morrison homered off McHugh in the eighth to tie it, but Houston countered and dropped the Mariners a half-game out in the race for the second AL wild card. "This type of win builds character," said interim Astros manager Tom Lawless, who is 5-2 since taking over when Bo Porter was fired last week. "They have the confidence and they know they can win. When you have that, you come out ahead a lot of times. And its someone different every night." With two outs in the ninth, Yoervis Medina (4-3) walked Jon Singleton and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Singleton moved to third on Matt Dominguezs single to deep shortstop. Villar bounced a 1-1 fastball from Charlie Furbush to the right of second baseman Robinson Cano, who made a dive for the ball as it skipped over his glove and rolled into right field. "We had the matchup we wanted," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "We had the groundball we wanted. It just took a bad hop. Tough break." Houston (64-81) has won 13 of 21, and the Astros are nearly halfway through a stretch that has them facing playoff contenders in 18 straight games. "Its a good sign of things to come for this organization," McHugh said. McHugh (9-9) permitted only two hits in eight innings -- an infield single in the fourth and Morrisons long homer off the facade of the second deck in right field. The right-hander struck out four and walked none. Josh Fields worked the ninth for his fourth save. "The way we lost tonight is not ideal. We take it a little harder. But it is what it is: one game," Morrison said. "We still control our own destiny so if we continue to take care of business, well be fine." Roenis Elias pitched six innings for the Mariners, allowing one run and six hits. He walked two and struck out four. The Astros scored with two outs in the fourth. With Jake Marisnick on first, Singleton sent a line shot to right that hit the yellow line at the top of the 8-foot wall. In his attempt to gather it in, right fielder Michael Saunders bobbled the ball twice. That allowed Marisnick to beat the relay home on the double. A replay review kept the Astros off the board in the sixth. With two outs and runners on first and second, Singleton bounced a grounder to the right of Morrison at first base. He made a high toss to Elias covering. Elias leaped for the ball and came down on the bag at the same time as Singleton. Singleton was ruled safe, and Chris Carter raced across the plate. McClendon challenged the call at first, which was reversed. Joe Beimel pitched to one batter in the ninth for his 50th appearance. That gave the Mariners seven relievers with at least 50 appearances, matching the major league record set by the 2002 Atlanta Braves. EXTENDED STAY? Lawless, who took over the team last Tuesday, said he hasnt talked to anyone in the front office but certainly would like to stick around after this season. "Ive been in baseball forever. Well see what happens," he said. "Hopefully, Ill be included in the mix and we can just take it from there. Maybe this is a nice tryout for me, to see what I can do and see how everybody responds and how were going about our business." SUCCESSFUL IN SEATTLE In two starts at Safeco Field, McHugh has given up just one run and allowed five hits while striking out 16. Over his last eight starts, he is 5-0 with a 1.69 ERA. "I had better fastball command than Ive had in a while. It felt good coming out of my hand," McHugh said. "Its nice to be able to put the ball where you want. It was pretty frustrating to battle almost eight innings and (Morrison) puts a swing like that on it. You tip your hat, but it was still a tie game and we had a job to do." TRAINERS ROOM Mariners: An MRI revealed bone spurs in OF Dustin Ackleys painful left ankle. He missed his third straight game. The club hopes he can return for the weekend series against Oakland. UP NEXT Mariners RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (14-6, 2.97 ERA), who starts the series finale Wednesday, is 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA in his last eight starts. He has as many wins as walks this season. Iwakuma will be opposed by RHP Nick Tropeano, making his major league debut. The September call-up was a fifth-round selection in the 2011 draft. Lonnie Johnson Youth Jersey . It all would have been for naught, however, had it not been for some clutch shooting in the fourth quarter by Kobe Bryant and a couple of equally critical hustle plays by Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol in the final minutes. Andre Johnson Jersey . Then Klay Thompson put his foot on the gas. Thompson scored 19 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and Harrison Barnes scored 14 points in his season debut to help the Golden State Warriors to a 106-93 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Lonnie-Johnson-Jersey/ . The Braves optioned outfielder Jose Constanza to Triple-A Gwinnett. As expected, the Braves also called up right-hander Julio Teheran from Gwinnett to start Sundays game and optioned backup catcher J.FALL RIVER, Mass. -- The New England Patriots will turn over hundreds of pages of personnel records to lawyers for former tight end Aaron Hernandez but object to producing scouting reports and a psychological assessment, a team lawyer said Wednesday. Patriots attorney Andrew Phelan said at a hearing in Fall River Superior Court the team has agreed to produce 317 pages of materials sought by the defence, including medical and training records. But the team objects to turning over nine pages of scouting reports, which Phelan said contain proprietary "trade secrets." He also said they are irrelevant. Phelan said the Patriots have offered Hernandezs lawyers the option of reviewing -- but not copying -- what he described as a 1 1/2 page summary of the psychological assessment. Thats all the team has, according to court filings. The team says the defence should seek to obtain the full report from the third party that produced it, which specializes in providing character and mental assessments for professional sports organizations. Phelan accused the defence of being on a "fishing expedition." Hernandez, 24, has pleaded not guilty to murder in the June 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd, a former semi-professional football player from Boston who was dating the sister of Hernandezs fiancee. Lloyds bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial area not far from the ex-players Massachusetts home. Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated the killing because he was upset with Lloyd for talking to some people with whom Hernandez had problems at a nightclub a few days earlier. Hernandezs attorneyss last month asked a judge to approve a subpoena to compel his former employer to turn over all the records in his personnel file, saying they may contain important information about his state of mind. J.J. Watt Womens Jersey. "State of mind is critical," defence attorney Michael Fee told a judge Wednesday. "This is not a fishing expedition. Were not on a lark." He said the scouting reports may contain exculpatory information about "prior bad acts" allegedly committed by Hernandez before he joined the Patriots in 2010, including while he played football at the University of Florida. Fee called the offer to merely look at the psychological profile summary "a dodge and a feint," saying the document is part of the personnel file and that the defence is entitled to it. Hernandez has agreed to the files release. He was released by the Patriots on the day of his arrest last summer. The judge did not hear arguments on the merits of the subpoena request but set a hearing for July 22. Hernandez attended Wednesdays proceeding but did not address the court. Afterward, he was transferred to a new jail in Boston after his attorneys earlier request for a move -- to be closer to them -- was approved. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins said Hernandez, who is being held without bail, will be treated like any other inmate. He said Hernandez will undergo an initial assessment before its determined whether hell be placed in the general population or isolation. Hernandez has also pleaded not guilty in a separate case in which hes charged with killing two men in Boston in 2012. ' ' '