9/23/24

(Houston, TX) Entering the final week of the MLB regular season, the Seattle Mariners entered the final six-game stretch needing to erase two games in the Wild Card and to go either 5-1 or 6-0 to have any chance at winning the AL West. They had an open opportunity to cut down the AL West deficit as the M’s began the week with a three-game series in Houston with the Astros. Seattle would need just one win to take the season series from Houston for the second consecutive season, but needed much more than that to keep their postseason hopes alive. Bryce Miller would return to his home state in the opener against another young star pitcher in Hunter Brown on Monday night.

Mariners 6, Astros 1 (Game One, September 23rd)

Neither pitcher faced much trouble in the first two innings as Miller got Jason Heyward to fly out with two men on in the bottom of the 2nd to shutdown the best scoring threat early. In the top of the 3rd, walks ended up hurting Hunter Brown, but not as much as they could have. Back-to-back one out walks to Josh Rojas and Victor Robles put plenty of speed on with just the one out. Julio Rodríguez then hit a chopper that looked destined for left field, but Jeremy Peña made his third great defensive play in as many innings. Peña made the backhanded play and actually threw out Rojas at third to cut down the lead runner for the second out. Despite the strong defensive play, Seattle still cashed in. Cal Raleigh stepped up with two outs and delivered a single to right. Robles scored easily with his speed and Seattle drew first blood with a 1-0 lead.

While Bryce Miller was dealing, the M’s struggled to find much offense as that one run was all they could muster against Hunter Brown who exited after six innings and striking out eight while allowing three hits and three walks. In the 7th, Caleb Ferguson entered out of Houston’s bullpen and found himself in hot water right away. A couple of singles by Justin Turner and J.P. Crawford put runners on first and second with only one out. As Dylan Moore pinch hit for Josh Rojas, Houston brought in Kaleb Ort as the second guy out of the bullpen. He would walk Moore to load the bases but got a big out when Victor Robles flew out to very shallow center to keep the bags packed with two outs. In stepped the reigning American League Player of the Week in Julio Rodríguez and he stayed red hot. J-Rod smoked a liner back up the middle for a base hit. Turner scored easily with Crawford coming in behind him. However, Jake Meyers came up throwing to third and cut down Dylan Moore before Crawford was able to score. That meant only one run counted and the lead was just 2-0.

Bryce Miller did not allow a baserunner from the 3rd inning thru the 6th as he continued to deal in front of friends and family in his home state. That stretch ended abruptly as he walked Alex Bregman and gave up a single to Yainer Diaz to begin the bottom of the 7th. The threat was mounting for Houston but the lineup was not nearly as deep with Yordan Alvarez out of the lineup in the opener. Jon Singleton would be up next and hit a soft chopper back to Miller. He would end up just going to first to get at least one out but the runners moved up to second and third. Bryce then locked in.

Miller won an eight-pitch battle with Victor Caratini as he struck him out with a splitter for the second out. That brought Jeremy Peña to the plate and Miller did not waste time. He needed just four pitches to sit down Peña and escape the jam unscathed. That ended his day but Miller was brilliant, going seven scoreless innings and allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out five. In the biggest game of his young career Miller came through in a huge way to set up the M’s in the final two innings.

Miller got some more help from the offense as a reward for his terrific performance in the top of the 8th. Facing Bryan King, Seattle loaded the bases in no time at all with three consecutive singles by Cal Raleigh, Randy Arozarena, and Luke Raley. Justin Turner did what the Mariners brought him in to do and that is put the ball in play as he sent a sacrifice fly out to center to score Raleigh and make it 3-0. Jorge Polanco followed suit but in a different way as he lined his 11th double of the season to left, scoring Arozarena and making it 4-0.

Seattle’s bullpen did not dominate either. In the bottom of the 8th, Troy Taylor came in to pitch and immediately lost the shutout on Jason Heyward’s ninth home run of the year to make it 4-1. After a groundout by Jake Meyers, Jose Altuve singled to put a runner on with one out. Taylor would work through it however as he got Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman to both groundout to get through the dangerous part of the Houston order with still a solid 4-1 lead.

More insurance came in the 9th for the M’s. Victor Robles recorded his 17th double of the season with a hustle double on a grounder that just clipped off the glove of Peña at short. Julio Rodríguez would send a high fly ball to deep left that ended up dropping behind the wall padding in left for a ground-rule double which scored Robles and made it 5-1. Two batters later, Randy Arozarena added another ground-rule double but of the more traditional variety as he bounced one over the wall in right-center for his 31st double of the year. The three-double inning allowed the Mariners to not need Andrés Muñoz for the 9th with the lead up to 6-1.

Instead it would be Eduard Bazardo pitching the 9th again in a non-save situation. He needed just eight pitches to close the book on this one. Bazardo continued his late season success by retiring Yainer Diaz, Jon Singleton, and Victor Caratini in order. The taste of defeat was quickly wiped out of the Mariners mouths as they started the week with a strong win, knocking off the Astros by a final score of 6-1.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Astros

• Jason Heyward- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Jeremy Peña- 1-3, Outstanding Defense
• Hunter Brown (L, 11-9)- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO