The Astros put up four runs early, but Seattle clawed all the way back and walked it off in the tenth. Now Houston heads into its final series still tied for first.
The Houston Astros faced the Seattle Mariners for the second game of the two-game series at T-Mobile Park. To open the series, Houston had an outstanding 7-0 shutout win as they work to regain the division lead. That being said, Wednesday night was a different story. While they started off strong, Seattle fought back, and they fought back hard. Going into extras, the Astros fell, 6-5. They are still tied with the Rangers, but desperately need to take a true lead if they don't want their season to come to an early end.
Here is a look at the loss they could not afford.
George Kirby took the mound for the Mariners, and he's had a great track record against the Astros, only giving up one home run to them all season. That being said, Kirby had been giving up an unusually high number of walks this season, sitting at a whopping 44 walks coming into this game. Kirby did not have a great outing last night and gave up his second home run of the season to the Astros off Yainer Diaz, but even so, it wasn't enough for Houston to snag the much-needed win.
Ethan Pecko took the big-league mound for the fifth time in his new major-league career Wednesday night. Pecko started off strong but unraveled in the third.
Houston jumped on Kirby first. Nick Allen doubled with one out, and Altuve followed with a hard single down the left field line to score him, 1-0. Alvarez doubled next, moving Altuve to third, and Paredes brought him home with a sac fly, 2-0. Diaz turned on a low splitter and sent it just over the wall in left for a two-run shot, making it 4-0.
Seattle answered right back in the bottom of the third. A leadoff walk, a single, and another walk loaded the bases for Dominic Canzone, who ripped a two-run single to make it 4-2. Julio Rodríguez followed with a double to cut it to 4-3.
The Mariners tied it up in the fifth. Arozarena singled, stole second, and scored on a Canzone single, knotting the game at 4-4.
It stayed that way into the late innings. In the top of the tenth, Yainer Diaz ripped a triple that scored the automatic runner, putting Houston back up 5-4.
But Josh Hader couldn't close it out. Seattle drew three straight walks in the bottom of the tenth to force in the tying run, then Julio Rodríguez worked a bases-loaded walk with two outs, and Josh Naylor delivered the walk-off single to complete the comeback, 6-5 Mariners.
The Astros now head down the coast to face the Athletics, and boy do they need a few wins. This is their final series of the regular season, and everything is riding on this series. A win to open the four-game series would be a great way to set the tone to finish the season strong and make their way to the playoffs.
