4/7/25

(Seattle, WA) A disaster of a three-game road trip for the Seattle Mariners saw them get swept by the San Francisco Giants including being walked off twice over the weekend.

Now, looking to right the ship after a 3-7 start, Seattle would return home for a huge six-game homestand against a couple of AL West foes from the Lone Star State. First up, the Mariners opened up a three-game series with the reigning AL West champions, the Houston Astros. Houston was also swept by the Giants before bouncing back by taking two out of three in Minnesota against the Twins. With both teams struggling to find offense, the stage was set for a series of closely contested games.

Mariners 4, Astros 3 (Game 1, April 7th)

Both Logan Gilbert and Hayden Wesneski came out of the gates looking very strong. The only threat in the first four innings came in the bottom of the 1st by the Mariners. After reaching on a two-out single, Randy Arozarena stole second to get into scoring position with Cal Raleigh at the plate. Raleigh would rip a hard grounder but Christian Walker made a fantastic diving stop to take a hit away from Raleigh and a run away from the Mariners to keep the game scoreless.

Houston did not record a hit off of Logan Gilbert through five innings. The Mariner ace was dialed in and despite having to throw extra pitches in some longer at bats, he carved up the Astros. Even when Isaac Paredes reached on an error by Rowdy Tellez at first base, Gilbert responded by striking out the next three batters he faced to continue to dominate while waiting for the offense to get going.

Hayden Wesneski matched Gilbert zero for zero until the bottom of the 5th. Wesneski got Luke Raley to groundout before striking out Rowdy Tellez for a quick two outs. Then the M’s struck gold. Dylan Moore smoked a single into left field to extend the inning for Ryan Bliss. The young second baseman would get the barrel to a fastball on the inside corner and drove it out to left field. It was just high enough to clear the wall for a two-run shot and the first home run for Bliss in 2025. All of a sudden, the Mariners had grabbed a 2-0 lead.

With one out in the 6th, Logan Gilbert lost the no-hitter. Jose Altuve took a hanging curveball and sent a no-doubter out to left field for his third home run of the season to make it 2-1. After walking Yordan Alvarez with two outs, Gilbert’s day came to an end. Trent Thornton helped strand the Alvarez walk by getting Christian Walker to groundout. Logan’s day was officially over as he went 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on one hit with two walks and seven strikeouts in another strong start by the Seattle ace.

After Thornton spun a quick 1-2-3 7th, Gregory Santos came on to pitch the 8th and struggled. A single by Jake Meyers put the tying run on and Mauricio Dubón moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Santos then sent a fastball to the backstop to move Meyers to third with one out. Santos then walked Altuve, who stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Isaac Paredes sent a liner out to Julio Rodríguez who made a great running catch and throw to keep Meyers at third.

A bit of confusion then occurred as manager Dan Wilson made his way to the mound and Gabe Speier started to make his way in from the bullpen. However, Speier then turned around and went back to the bullpen as Wilson kept Santos in the game which raised some eyebrows across the Pacific Northwest. Seattle then intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez to face Christian Walker. The new Astro sent a hard grounder to Dylan Moore who whiffed on it and allowed the ball to get into left field. Two runs scored on the error and just like that Houston had a 3-2 lead.

Tayler Scott came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th and walked both Dylan Moore and pinch hitter Miles Mastrobuoni to put a couple of runners on with nobody out. J.P. Crawford moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt to put the go-ahead runner and tying runner in scoring position. With Julio coming to the plate, Houston turned to closer Bryan Abreu to try to get the final five outs. Abreu sat down Rodríguez with a 99-mph fastball for a big second out. That brought Seattle’s hottest hitter this season to the plate in Jorge Polanco. After missing the previous two games with a side injury, Polanco was back in the lineup at DH for Seattle. Abreu hung a 2-1 slider to Polanco and he stayed red hot. Polanco sent a base hit to center to score Moore and Mastrobuoni. The switch hitter came up huge to put Seattle back out in front, 4-3.

Andrés Muñoz came on in the 9th to face a lighter part of the Houston order. J.P. Crawford started the inning with an incredible diving stop up the middle to take a hit away from Victor Caratini thanks to a nice play at first as well by Rowdy Tellez. Muñoz then made quick work of Yainer Diaz, striking him out on three pitches for the second out. Jake Meyers wouldn’t fare much better as he sent a harmless grounder to Mastrobuoni at second for the game’s final out. After blowing it and then taking the lead back, Seattle came away with the game one win over Houston, 4-3.

Notable Performances

Astros

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (ND)- 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO
• Jorge Polanco- 1-4, 2 RBI, SB
• Ryan Bliss- 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R

What’s Next

Seattle’s win gives them a chance to get their first series win of the season as early as Tuesday night. Seattle and Houston will battle in game two on Tuesday at 6:40pm. After being questionable to make the start, Framber Valdez will make the start on Tuesday. Valdez (1-1, 3.75 ERA) was brilliant on Opening Day before being roughed up by San Francisco in his most recent start where he gave up five runs in five innings thanks to four walks. Seattle will turn to Luis Castillo, who has looked like his dominant self we saw in 2022 and 2023. La Piedra (1-1, 3.00 ERA) outdueled Tarik Skubal his last time out when he gave up just two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in seven innings.

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