SWEEP: Seattle Mariners Bash Big Second Inning, Take Game Three 7-3 in Statement Series
HOUSTON, Texas — The collapse of the old baseball order is seemingly upon us. The mighty Astros, through whom the American League has run for what seems like an eon, lay gravely wounded on the marble steps of baseball’s postseason shrine with just one week left in the regular season. All their magic ran out against a perhaps unlikely buzzsaw: the Seattle Mariners.
Just two weeks prior, the M’s looked to be on the verge of crashing out of the playoff picture entirely. Ghosts of collapses past howled through windswept late-night ballparks on the east coast, Seattle seemingly doing it again.
Lo and behold, momentum reversed on a dime. A mammoth tailwind has propelled the Mariners to 14 wins in their last 15 games, a three-game division lead, and an exhilarating sweep against the team that has tormented them for years on end.
Welcome to the changing of the guard.
Jason Alexander Decompresses
Of all the things that completed Seattle’s sweep on Sunday, Houston starter Jason Alexander’s awful outing was the most evident.
Although Alexander has given up more runs in an outing before, no previous blowup had ever occurred during a situation like Sunday’s game. His team was trying to salvage both a win and a fighting chance for the AL West, but instead, Alexander all but burned the Astros’ cabin to the ground.
It started on the first pitch of the second inning. Josh Naylor, with Astros third baseman Carlos Correa swiveled over towards the shortstop position, laid a beautiful surprise bunt down the third base line for a leadoff single. Jorge Polanco chopped an infield knock of his own into a no-man’s-land on the right side and Eugenio Suárez lined a ball into right to load the bases.
There was a brief moment where it seemed like Alexander might get out of it. Dominic Canzone seared a one-hopper right to Correa at third, who got the first out at the plate to keep the game scoreless and bring up Víctor Robles.
Saturday’s hero walked, giving Seattle their first run of the ballgame. Houston still had the opportunity to limit the damage, however, as a double play would hold the Mariners to a single-run lead.
Alexander got ahead of J.P. Crawford 1-2—and then tossed him a block of cheese the size of a car battery. Crawford added some rye bread and mustard to the early-game grub with a towering salami that landed five rows back in the right field seats, growing Seattle’s one-run lead to five and shrinking Houston’s chances of winning from 30 percent to 11 percent.
Not that the Mariners were done. Randy Arozarena whacked a single into center field and then Cal Raleigh torched a 1-0 changeup down the right field line for his 58th homer of the season, a blast that put Seattle up 7-0.
Once Julio Rodríguez knocked a single of his own on the first pitch he saw, Joe Espada finally went to the bullpen. Enyel De Los Santos managed to finally shut the Mariners down, but the mammoth inning had done its damage. Seattle produced all of their production in the top of the second, and the seven runs ended up being enough to close out this season’s biggest sweep.
“Walter” Works Solid Six Innings
Even with a seven-run lead, Gilbert had some work cut out for him in Houston. Eduard Bazardo and Andrés Muñoz were both unavailable after some heavy lifting over the previous few days, so Seattle was looking for a solid innings count from their starter.
He faced some off-and-on difficulties throughout his outing, however. Before he had the luxury of a lead, his very first pitch to Jose Altuve was seared down the left field line for a leadoff double, giving him a pickle to work out of right off the bat. Gilbert did just that, getting three pieces of weak contact in seven pitches to get out of the inning with relative ease.
The second went by easily, but the third offered some challenges. Zach Cole, Houston’s recent callup in the outfield, torpedoed a rare Gilbert meatball 443 feet out to right center, putting the Astros’ first run on the board. Mauricio Dubón struck out quickly, but things once again became a little dicey for the Mariners hurler.
Despite being down by six, the top of the Astros order fought and scratched any way they could, making Gilbert work for the last two outs of that inning. Altuve fouled off a couple of splitters on his way to working an eight-pitch walk. Carlos Correa had a longer at-bat, fouling off five pitches and working a full count, but Gilbert froze him like a statue on a heater for a nine-pitch strikeout. Paredes struck out in turn, but the ball bounced off Raleigh’s chest and all the way to the backstop, allowing Paredes to first.
Just one swing of the bat from Jesús Sánchez could have made it a close ballgame again, but he flew out to center to end the inning. Still, Gilbert had to throw 32 pitches in the frame, a little over a third of his total pitch count on Sunday.
Things were much simpler for Gilbert over his next three frames, though he had to fight through another eight-pitch at-bat in the fifth inning on his way to a 91 total pitches through six innings. Despite Seattle’s aforementioned exhaustion in the bullpen, Mariners manager Dan Wilson brought in a fresh arm for the seventh, finishing out an excellent start at six innings.
Astros Chip at Seattle’s Lead
Mariners reliever Caleb Ferguson, a deadline acquisition for the M’s, was called upon to do the honors in the seventh. The inning started off well enough as Jake Meyers grounded out on one pitch, but the train began to derail as Cole and Dubón both singled in front of Altuve, who had gotten on base in both his previous appearances.
Altuve worked a little accidental dark magic for Houston’s second run, as home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson gifted him a two-strike ball and a bad check swing on the very next pitch went unnoticed due to the ball bouncing off Raleigh’s chest. Altuve took good advantage of the extra opportunities with a single of his own, scoring Cole and sending Dubón to third.
With a trademark Astros comeback clearly brewing, Wilson yanked Ferguson and brought in Carlos Vargas, a somewhat unusual move given his blowup inning on Saturday. Yet the move quickly bore fruit for Seattle, as Correa chopped it right to Crawford for an inning-ending double play.
Vargas went back out for the eighth, and although he got all three outs in the end, a Paredes blast chipped the Mariners’ lead to four and put Houston in grand slam distance of tying the game.
Matt Brash Shuts Down Astros in Ninth
Despite the persistent chipping in the seventh and eighth, none of Saturday’s nail-biting came to pass on Sunday night. Matt Brash, one of the few top-end Mariners relievers who didn’t make an appearance during the previous night’s thriller, got the nod in the ninth inning.
The most notable event of the first two at-bats was not a run, a hit, or even a walk—it was when Zach Cole collided with first base umpire Bruce Dreckman after his run to first on a groundout. Caratini lazily flew out to second for out number two, and the final batter of the game was none other than Jose Altuve.
Houston’s longtime second baseman came into Sunday’s game with a .311/.367/.461 career slash line against Seattle. More importantly, Altuve was the face of the infamous 2017 championship team, and as such became a universal heel throughout the baseball world once the cheating scandal broke.
Brash fell behind Altuve 3-1, but he worked back in the count with a fastball and then caught Altuve looking with a heater right down the middle to end the game.
On Deck
The Mariners and Astros both have six games remaining in the regular season, with Seattle at 87-69 and Houston three games behind at 84-72. Since the Mariners have the tiebreaker due to their weekend series win, they only need to win three games to guarantee a division title in 2025—and that’s if the Astros win out.
For the first time in a long time, the coast is essentially clear, not only for a first-place finish in the division, but a first-round bye in the playoffs. The Mariners’ 87-69 record leads the Detroit Tigers by two games in the total American League standings, giving Seattle the second seed if that result holds for the remainder of the year.
