HOUSTON -- Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano inflicted so much damage on the Houston Astros this weekend that the solo home run Collin McHugh surrendered to Cano in the fourth inning qualified as radar blip.

McHugh pitched seven strong innings and Jose Altuve recorded his third career three-steal game as the Astros salvaged a four-game series split with the Seattle Mariners with a 5-1 win on Sunday at Minute Maid Park.

McHugh (4-3) produced his best start of the season, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts. That lone run came courtesy of the scalding hot Cano, who crushed his 12th home run on the season and fifth against the Astros (12-20) leading off the fourth.

"I thought Collin was great from the very beginning," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "Cano was Superman this series so we didn't solve him and he found a way to remind us that you can't make any pitches to him when he's hot. Other than that, Collin was as in control of this game as any of our starting pitchers have been this entire season."

Cano aside, McHugh was practically impenetrable. He retired the Mariners (18-13) in order in the first, third and seventh innings. The Mariners managed consecutive baserunners in the second and fifth, but with two outs each time, McHugh easily recovered to snuff those rallies.

"You've got to execute pitches, you've got to make pitches," McHugh said. "I've been getting in trouble the last few starts of getting my pitch count up really early, getting traffic on the bases really early and it's tough to go deep in a game when you do that. So the focus today was just three outs at a time starting in the first inning. Have a clean first inning and go from there, and we were able to do that."

Altuve returned to the starting lineup after missing Saturday's start due to a finger injury and again served as a catalyst, swiping second and third base in succession in the third inning before scoring when Colby Rasmus executed a perfect two-out squeeze bunt. Marwin Gonzalez followed with an opposite-field single off Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma (1-4) to extend the Houston lead to 3-0.

The Astros tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning against right-hander Mayckol Guaipe, and again Altuve was their sparkplug.

Altuve stroked a leadoff single and advanced to third base on a steal and throwing error by Mariners catcher Steve Clevenger. Altuve scored when George Springer reached on a fielding error from Seattle shortstop Ketel Marte, and Springer followed by stealing second base and later scoring when shortstop Carlos Correa singled to center field.

"They're an athletic team, that's part of their game," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "We knew that coming into this series. You have to keep them off base and obviously they were on base today. (Clevenger) wasn't as accurate as he normally has been throwing wise."

Rookie Tyler White finished 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and his first RBI since April 29. Altuve and Gonzalez also recorded multi-hit games.

Cano continued his torrid run against the Astros. In seven games against Houston this season, Cano is batting .467 with 17 RBIs. He leads the American League in home runs and the major leagues with 33 RBIs.

Iwakuma lasted five innings, surrendering three runs on seven hits and two walks with a season-high eight strikeouts. He fell to 4-7 in 12 starts against the Astros, including a 3-3 record at Minute Maid Park.

"Overall I thought I had life on my fastball," Iwakuma said through an interpreter. "But at the same time they made me work. They got my pitch count up. The least I could do is go six innings and I couldn't do that so I kind of have to think about that and reflect towards my next start."

NOTES: Mariners DH Nelson Cruz was held out of the starting lineup to rest his sore right forearm. Cruz suffered the injury on Friday night when he was hit by a pitch from Astros RHP Doug Fister in the seventh inning. Cruz, who had started each of the previous 30 games, finished 1-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts on Saturday. ... Astros CF Jake Marisnick made his fifth start of the season, with Houston manager A.J. Hinch saying the decision was more a nod to Marisnick than an indictment of slumping CF Carlos Gomez. Gomez was ejected in the 10th inning Saturday night and is batting .206/.245/.289 with 34 strikeouts in 103 plate appearances. ... Astros C Evan Gattis finished 1-for-3 with a home run and threw out a potential base stealer in his first game behind the plate for Double-A Corpus Christi. Gattis began his assignment making the transition to catching with the Hooks on Saturday night. Gattis has not caught for the Astros since being acquired on Jan. 14, 2015, from the Braves.