Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

SEATTLE — Derek Fisher grounded a game-tying single up the middle in the seventh and crushed a first-pitch changeup for an opposite field double in the fifth, but his most telling time of Tuesday's 11-5 win against the Mariners came on an out.

Against Mariners reliever Jesse Biddle in the eighth inning, he allowed a first-pitch fastball to sail far too outside. Biddle battled back with a 94.4 mph heater on the inner half of Fisher's strike zone.

Houston's fill-in leadoff man hammered it to right field. Statcast measured the missile with a 113.8 mph exit velocity. It traveled on a line to right fielder Mitch Haniger, who squeezed it for an out.

Across all of the major leagues, only 35 balls in play this season were hit harder. Fisher's always maintained the strength to supply such startling numbers. It's part of the reason the organization remains enamored with the former first-round pick who has not discovered consistent major league success.

High swing-and-miss rates and questionable pitch selection sullied the attributes, though, leaving him at best a major league platoon player and — for most of the past two seasons — a AAA outfielder.

"He went to AAA and actually made some good adjustments and actually honed in on his strengths and he's hitting the ball well," said Tony Kemp. "I think that's important because when he was getting behind in counts last year, he was getting a lot of offspeed pitches and striking out and he was taking a lot of good pitches that he could punish."

"This year, I think he's getting more aggressive in the zone and hitting pitches he'd normally take last year, so he made some good adjustments."

In place of hobbled leadoff man George Springer, Fisher has started five of the Astros' last six games hitting first. He is 6-for-20 with three extra-base hits. He's struck out only eight times in 10 games — and three of those came in one afternoon.

Fisher's ability to work plate appearances and get on base in front of Alex Bregman and Michael Brantley — two of the remaining healthy hammerers in Houston's order — is invaluable.

"I like how hard Fish is hitting the ball and how consistent his approach has been," manager A.J. Hinch said. "He's really taken it upon himself to be a good leadoff hitter at the top of the order. He knows that's not forever with Springer coming back eventually but it's a good look for him."

After recording zero swings and misses against 18 pitches on Tuesday, Fisher's whiff rate is 12.8 percent during the first 10 games of this major league call-up. It was 16.3 percent during his major league stints last season, a trying year in which he cracked the opening day roster but received just 86 big league plate appearances.

"I feel good. I feel really good," Fisher said. "It's just continuing to slow the game down, have good at-bats, swing at strikes and put the barrel on the ball when I can."

"It's something to have a consistent routine and, again, it's a testament to our coaches and everyone around. Continuing to do the same stuff every day offensively and defensively and getting a good routine rolling with these guys, it's a hell of a lot of fun."

During spring training, Fisher spoke frequently of his failings last season. He became too enamored with launch angles and tried to hit the baseball in the air the wrong way. Trying to tailor his swing toward being a better launch angle hitter took Fisher out of what he'd done his entire life.

Freeing himself from and compartmentalizing some of the Astros' ample analytical information was needed. So, too, was returning to what felt natural.

"We've got some information here, great information, that can help us," Fisher said Tuesday. "It's whether you can put it into your own game and make those adjustments to your own swing. It's up to us to use that information the right way and I feel like this year I've made a better adjustment doing that."

Tuesday, Fisher got on base in three of his five plate appearances. Twice, he scored runs via either Bregman or cleanup hitter Yuli Gurriel. He stole second base in the seventh inning, too, showcasing the sort of speed atop the order that can accentuate this new way the Astros are winning.

"We've been rolling and everyone is just passing the hat to the next guy and whoever is next up is doing a good job," Kemp said. "Fish is doing a great job. It's hard to replace a guy like George Springer but he's doing a pretty good job right now."