Kyle Tucker hits go-ahead homer in ninth inning to send Astros over Mariners 6-4
SEATTLE – The last time these two American League West rivals met at T-Mobile Park, they played 17 innings of scoreless baseball with both wearing normal, er, traditional uniforms and the Astros ending the Mariners’ magical 2022 season.
On Friday night, with the Mariners wearing their new “city connect” ensemble, which probably caught more than a few viewers by surprise despite the intense marketing campaign, the two teams with expectations of winning the division, provided more in the way of offense and runs being scored.
But the final result – another loss to Houston – was still the same as so many games before, including the elimination heartbreaker last October.
Kyle Tucker blasted a two-run homer to dead center in the top of the ninth off reliever Matt Brash to break a tie game in a 6-4 Astros victory.
That Tucker got to swing at the 3-2 breaking ball was a point of consternation for the Mariners.
Brash appeared to have struck out Tucker on the pitch before, putting it right on the outside corner. But home-plate umpire Shane Livensparger called it a ball.
When manager Scott Servais went to remove Brash from the game, he let Livensparger know his displeasure at the missed pitch as he walked back to the dugout. He was ejected and then let Livensparger have it at home plate.
The Mariners had a fleeting hope in the bottom of the ninth against Astros closer Ryan Pressley. Teoscar Hernandez led off with a single to left-center, but he inexplicably tried to stretch it into a double and was thrown out at second. It loomed large when J.P. Crawford singled in the next plate appearance.
The Mariners got a decent start from Luis Castillo. He pitched seven innings, allowing a season-high four runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
Three of those runs came on one vicious swing from the one hitter who has been unending nightmare for the Mariners and their fans – Yordan Alvarez
With two outs in the third inning, Alvarez came to the plate with runners on first and third.
Castillo threw him consecutive change-ups to start the at-bat. The first one was perfect, sinking low and away from Alvarez right at the bottom of the zone for a called strike. The next change-up was everything that first one wasn’t in a bad way. It lacked movement and leaked over the middle of the plate.
Alvarez sent a towering blast into the seats in deep right-center. The ball had 109 mph exit velocity and traveled 408 feet for the unseasonably chilly evening air for his seventh homer on the season.
The situation could’ve been avoided had Castillo not walked Alex Bregman, in the plate appearance before, after getting up 1-2 in the count.
The Astros tacked on another run in the fourth. Tucker scored from third when Jeremy Pena was thrown out at second on stolen base attempt.
Down 4-0, the Mariners seemed without hope. This wasn’t the Oakland A’s they were playing against. And to that point in the game, starter Cristian Javier was carving Mariners hitters, holding them hitless through the first four innings with six strikeouts.
Cal Raleigh singled to start the fifth inning for the Mariners’ first hit of the game. More would follow as Hernandez looped another single to right field. With one out, Taylor Trammell worked a walk to load the bases.
They got unloaded by No. 9 hitter Kolten Wong, who roped a double into right-center to score all three runs and cut the lead to 4-3.
The Mariners knotted the score in the eighth inning. With two outs, three consecutive singles from Ty France, Jarred Kelenic and Eugenio Suarez produced the tying run.