The Houston Astros kicked off their series against the Seattle Mariners Friday night at Daikin Park, and they sure kept things interesting, going to extra innings to secure the win 10-7.
Lambert actually pitched well Friday, five innings, two runs, six strikeouts, and he settled in nicely after that rough first inning. He didn't factor into the decision, but 12 swinging strikes on 96 pitches is a really solid outing.
Seattle came out strong, scoring two runs in the top of the first on an Arozarena double, a Canzone single, and a Naylor sacrifice fly. For a second it looked like the Mariners were going to give the Astros a run for their money, but then Yordan Alvarez wasted no time answering back.
Alvarez broke his home run drought with a solo shot in the bottom of the first, the first pitch he saw from Kirby, and his AL-leading 36th of the season.
In the second inning, Christian Walker started a two-out rally with a single, and Cam Smith followed with a triple down the line to drive him in, tying the game at 2-2. Isaac Paredes finished the night with two hits and three RBI overall.
But the Mariners put up quite a fight and weren't going down easy. Brock Rodden, making his MLB debut, delivered an RBI ground-rule double in the eighth inning for his first career hit, part of a two-run rally that kept Seattle in it.
The game went into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Mariners drove in two runs to take the lead, 7-5. It looked like the Astros were done for, but the bottom of the 10th belonged to Houston. Paredes led off with an RBI single, cutting it to 7-6.
After two outs, Altuve had a bizarre-but-effective 69-mph RBI single to tie it at 7-7. Varsho followed with a single of his own, sneaking past a diving Rodden at shortstop, to give Houston the lead. Then Christian Walker stepped up and absolutely crushed a three-run homer off Andrés Muñoz, sending it 405 feet and he knew it, to secure the win, 10-7.
Game two of the series is Saturday night, and Hayden Wesneski will take the mound. This will be his fourth start back. Another solid pitcher on the mound for the Astros to help set the tone of the game, and they should have some serious momentum going into the second game of the series.
Houston should easily take the series this evening, and on Sunday should be able to complete the sweep with Hunter Brown on the mound. Houston is now 63-60, and every win right now matters for holding onto that AL West lead.
