Michael Brantley homers in 13th, Astros rally past Mariners 11-9
HOUSTON – Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Houston Astros an 11-9 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night in a game they trailed by seven runs.
Houston rookie Kyle Tucker hit his first major league homer in the sixth and tied the score 9-all in the 12th with an RBI single. Josh Reddick also went deep for the AL West leaders, who were down 7-0 in the second.
Kyle Seager homered twice, including a tiebreaking shot in the top of the 12th, and rookie Aaron Nola had two home runs and a season-high five RBIs for Seattle.
Matt Wisler (3-4) walked Jake Marisnick leading off the 13th before Brantley launched a drive to right-center.
Josh James (5-0) struck out five in two innings for the win.
Seager connected off James with one out in the 12th to put the Mariners up 9-8.
Yuli Gurriel walked with one out in the bottom half and was replaced by speedy pinch-runner Myles Straw. He advanced to second on a groundout before scoring on Tucker’s single to tie it again.
James then struck out the side in the 13th.
The Mariners opened a 7-0 lead thanks largely to the worst start of the season by Wade Miley. But the Astros chipped away by scoring one in the second, two in the third and two in the sixth. They trailed 8-5 in the eighth before Jose Altuve hit a two-run triple off Sam Tuivailala. Brantley hit a sacrifice fly that scored Altuve to tie it 8-all.
Dan Altavilla struck out the side in the ninth to send it to the 10th.
Neither team got a hit in the 10th or 11th before Seager’s home run.
Nola hit a two-run double and Seager homered in a five-run first for Seattle. Miley gave up five hits and five runs without getting an out in the shortest start of his career.
Nola’s first home run of the night came in the second to put Seattle up 7-0, and he added a solo shot in the seventh to make it 8-5.
Seattle starter Marco Gonzales yielded seven hits and five runs – four earned – in 5 1/3 innings.
Seager’s big night gave him 21 homers, making him the first player in franchise history to have 20 or more in eight straight seasons.
Tucker, the fifth overall pick in the 2015 draft, hit his first career homer to cut the lead to three in the sixth. There was one out in the inning when Reddick chased Gonzales with a homer to right field to make it 7-5.
The Astros cut the lead to 7-1 in the second when Yordan Alvarez scored on a wild pitch by Gonzales. The pitcher dashed from the mound to cover home plate and the throw was just short, allowing Alvarez to slide in safely.
Gonzales and Alvarez collided on the slide and the pitcher was shaken up, but stayed in the game after a short visit with trainers and a few warmup pitches.