Mariners' Bullpen Blows Another Lead as Houston Walks it Off in Extras

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Seattle Mariners pitcher Andrés Muñoz (75) gets a pitchers mound visit with Houston Astros shortstop Nick Allen (20) on third base in the tenth inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images [/caption]

Seattle came limping into Houston having won only one of its last six games. After digging itself into a three-run deficit early, the Mariners came storming back in the eighth to send the game to extra innings. Despite taking a 7-5 lead in the 10th, they allowed Houston a comeback of their own, further putting the division out of reach.

It wasn’t all bad news, as the final result might suggest. Starter George Kirby pitched better than the box score might indicate, and the offense seemingly woke up from a season-long slumber.

A top-30 prospect also made his debut for the team. Brock Rodden debuted at shortstop and looked like a major leaguer already, sparking questions about why he wasn’t brought up earlier given the recent controversy surrounding Colt Emerson’s secret injury.

The backend of the bullpen surprisingly fell apart, blowing a two-run lead in the 10th and showing once again that another bullpen acquisition was needed at the trade deadline.

Seattle continues to slip further and further from playoff contention, and its players will need to execute to get this squad back on track. Here are some takeaways from Friday’s barnburner:

Kirby’s Frustrating Night

George Kirby was on the mound aiming to shut down a potent Astros offense that ranks in the top 10 in runs this season. American League MVP front-runner Yordan Alvarez had other ideas, demolishing a home run on a changeup Kirby left up in the middle of the zone to cut the M’s lead to 2-1.

In the third inning, Cam Smith shot a broken-bat triple down the left-field line that brought Christian Walker home from first. This unlucky result would start a trend that would ultimately be the Mariners’ undoing on the night.

After a Christian Vázquez walk, Jeremy Peña hit a soft grounder into right field to score the third run of the game for the Astros. Kirby, notably frustrated, committed a rare balk before intentionally walking Alvarez to load the bases.

Continuing Kirby’s bad luck, a bouncing ball was hit softly to third base by Isaac Paredes to score two more runs, leaving Kirby accountable for five runs on the day.

Kirby was only able to last four and two-thirds innings in total before being replaced. He gave up eight hits and issued three walks while striking out an impressive seven batters. He struggled with his command most of the night but also had a lot of bad luck on soft-hit balls.

The Mariners’ starter only earned seven swings and misses, and batters were able to foul off 18 pitches to work his pitch count up to 99 by the time Kirby exited the game. Kirby will need to build off his seven strikeouts and hope for better ground-ball luck in his next outing.

Offense Decides to Do Its Part

Opposing starting pitcher Peter Lambert had gone seven consecutive starts allowing two runs or fewer. Seattle aimed to end that streak.

In the first inning, Randy Arozarena survived what looked like a checked-swing strike three to slap a double off the left-field wall. He had to go down and get a pitch a half-foot below the zone, but it worked to his advantage, showing again that Arozarena can turn a bad decision into a positive result as he has all season.

Swinging at a pitch up and in, Dominic Canzone was able to fight a fastball off his hands and deposit it into center field to score Arozarena for an early RBI double.

Wanting to get in on the early-game offense, Julio Rodriguez roped a double past a diving third baseman to push Canzone into third base with just one out. First baseman Josh Naylor then shot a ball out to right field for a sacrifice fly, scoring Canzone to put Seattle up 2-0 heading into the bottom of the first inning.

The Mariners were unable to score any more runs off of Lambert, but they did work his pitch count. Able to knock Lambert out after five solid innings, Seattle started the offense back up again. Naylor continued his hot hitting as of late by doubling on a sharp line drive to right fielder Cam Smith. With two outs, the defensive-minded Victor Robles managed to single in his first baseman to cut the lead to 5-3.

In the top of the eighth, Julio Rodriguez worked a much-needed walk. He then stole second and advanced to third on a Naylor groundout. An impressive use of speed, as advancing from second to third on a groundout to shortstop usually results in a baserunning disaster. Julio continued to show off his wheels by scoring on a Brendan Donovan groundout to first base.

With two outs, Cal Raleigh kept the line moving, working a walk before being pinch-run for by Weston Wilson. Victor Robles then singled on a soft bunt back to the pitcher.

Newcomer Brock Rodden then came to the plate with two men on in a clutch late-game situation. He delivered, hitting a ground-rule double down the right-field line to score Wilson and collect his first major league hit and RBI in his debut.

With the benefit of the automatic runner starting the 10th on second base, Robles stung a ball out to center for a stand-up triple. Rodden continued his RBI-collecting ways by hitting a sacrifice fly to score Robles easily.

A Promising Major League Debut

Earning a last-minute call-up to the majors, infielder and utility man extraordinaire Brock Rodden looked to help salvage a lost season in Seattle. His family was featured repeatedly on the broadcast after driving down from neighboring Oklahoma to watch Rodden play.

The former fifth-round draft pick out of Wichita State started his career by flying out to left field after working a 2-2 count. But Rodden would later prove that he belonged as he hit a double and collected two RBIs. His second RBI came in a high-leverage at-bat in which he saw eight pitches before doing some damage.

Defensively, he looked fine at shortstop, making the plays he should without committing any errors. He lacks the range that Colt Emerson has but projects to be more sure-handed given his age (26) and experience.

Coming in as the No. 19 prospect in MLB.com’s updated Top 100, shortstop is Rodden’s job to lose until J.P. Crawford returns from injury.

Closer Explosion

Holding on to a two-run advantage in the bottom of the 10th, Andrés Muñoz came into the game ready to close out a much-needed win for the Mariners.

He impressively elicited a groundout from slugger Alvarez before allowing Isaac Paredes to single home the automatic runner from second, cutting the lead to 7-6.

Former Mariner Taylor Trammell was then made to look silly, striking out on a slider buried in the dirt and leaving Muñoz needing just one more out to secure the save.

Second baseman Jose Altuve swung out of his shoes at a slider almost a foot out of the zone but managed to get enough of the barrel on the ball to deposit it into center field. A frustrating two-strike, 69-mph base hit.

Continuing the frustration, Muñoz managed to get Daulton Varsho to another two-strike count before he hit a bouncing ball to third base that appeared to land foul. Donovan then got into a shouting match with the third-base umpire.

Christian Walker interrupted the argument by demolishing a hanging slider for a walk-off three-run homer to send the Astros faithful home happy.

On Deck

After a deflating loss to start the intradivision series, Seattle will send Emerson Hancock to face Hayden Wesneski in the second game of the series. Houston opens as a slight favorite at -125.