Mariners find some of that old chaos to rally past Astros in eighth
SEATTLE – They had been shut down and shut out for the first five innings by a 28-year-old rookie making his major league debut.
The runners that they were getting on base were being stranded. The balls that they hit hard were being caught.
Another frustrating loss where the offense fell short of the most minimal of expectations was upon the Mariners against the one team they despise more than any other in baseball.
Down three runs with two outs in the eighth inning, a comeback seemed unlikely. They were playing the Astros, not the A’s.
But a little bit of that old chaos returned to T-Mobile Park. Eugenio Suarez worked a walk off one-time Mariners reliever Rafael Montero. Cal Raleigh reached on a check-swing infield single and Teoscar Hernandez’s ground ball deep in the hole to shortstop couldn’t be turned into an out.
It brought J.P. Crawford, the emotional heartbeat of the Mariners, to the plate with the bases loaded.
Crawford wouldn’t give in to that emotion of the moment or the adrenaline of 40,238 fans chanting his name. He calmly watched the first four pitches – three balls and then a strike.
He turned the fifth pitch from Montero into a line-drive into the right-center gap that cleared the bases.
But that cathartic double didn’t just clear the bases. It set off a chain reaction of hits and runs – seven total in the eighth inning – that would result in the Mariners’ stunning 7-5 victory over Houston.
The Astros went to Ryne Stanek after Crawford’s double to stop the moment.
It didn’t happen.
Taylor Trammell worked a walk and Jose Caballero launched a double into left-center to put the Mariners ahead.
Seattle added two more insurance runs on run-scoring singles from Julio Rodriguez and Jarred Kelenic. They proved beneficial with Paul Sewald allowing a pair of runs in the ninth inning.
The Mariners got a quality start from Marco Gonzales, who allowed three runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
After working the first three innings scoreless, the Astros got to him in the fourth inning. Mauricio Dubon led off with a single. After retiring Alex Bregman, Gonzales pitched Yordan Alvarez very carefully, eventually walking him. It wasn’t the worst strategy. But it got sidetracked when he walked the struggling Jose Abreu to load the bases. Kyle Tucker drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to deep right field. Jeremy Pena followed with a single to left-center that made it 2-0.
The Astros tacked on another run in the fifth inning. Jake Meyers doubled with one out, moved to third on Dubon’s infield single and scored easily on Yordan Alvarez’s double into left field. The Mariners ended the inning by throwing out Dubon at home as he tried to score on the play. Initially, home plate Dan Bellino ruled that catcher Tom Murphy had improperly blocked the plate on the play and ruled Dubon safe.
After the Mariners asked for a replay review, which showed Murphy moving to catch the ball and Dubon not even close to the plate when he caught it, the call was overturned for the final out of the inning.