Yordan Alvarez smacked a walk-off single in the 10th inning and the Houston Astros claimed their four-game series against the visiting Seattle Mariners with a 3-2 victory on Sunday.
Alvarez, who was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts entering the 10th, bounced a single into left field off Mariners left-hander Brennan Bernardino (0-1), scoring Mauricio Dubon from third base. Bernardino, the sixth Mariners pitcher of the game, was making his major league debut.
The Astros extended their lead over Seattle in the American League West to 12 games.
Trailing 2-0 entering the eighth, the Mariners staged a two-out rally against Astros reliever Ryne Stanek. Adam Frazier worked a five-pitch walk before Jesse Winker drilled a first-pitch fastball into the right field seats, his ninth home run on the season, to deadlock the score.
Houston pushed Mariners rookie right-hander George Kirby into the ropes early, with Jose Altuve (hit by pitch) and Yuli Gurriel (single) reaching safely to open the bottom of the first. Altuve took third on the Gurriel single to center field and scored when the duo executed a double steal, with Altuve sliding safely into home plate to provide the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Kirby rebounded with consecutive strikeouts of Alvarez and Alex Bregman, but then allowed an RBI single to Kyle Tucker that plated Gurriel and doubled the Houston advantage.
The Astros went quiet offensively thereafter. Gurriel, who doubled with two outs in the second, was the only other baserunner Kirby allowed over his final three innings.
Seattle relievers Penn Murfee, Matt Brash, Paul Sewald and Erik Swanson followed by silencing Houston over the next five innings. The Astros finally broke through against Bernardino in the 10th.
Astros right-hander Jake Odorizzi produced his fourth scoreless outing of the season and second since his return from a 42-game stint on the injured list. He was perfect through three innings and retired the side in order in the fifth with a pair of strikeouts, both swinging.
Frazier opened the fourth with a single and advanced to second base when Carlos Santana worked a two-out walk, but Odorizzi coaxed an inning-ending flyout from Eugenio Suarez to snuff that threat. He worked around a one-out Frazier single in the sixth and a two-out walk from Kyle Lewis in the seventh to complete seven scoreless innings.
Odorizzi allowed two singles and two walks while recording a season-high eight strikeouts on 94 pitches.
--Field Level Media