4/9/25

(Seattle, WA) For the first time this season, the Seattle Mariners entered the final game of a series with a chance to come out with the series win. With the Houston Astros pulling out the extra innings win in game two, the M’s had to flush the heartbreak rather quickly before a day off on Thursday.

When looking at the pitching matchup, Houston seemed to have a large edge as Hunter Brown was looking to continue to quiet the Mariner bats while Luis F. Castillo made his second career start for Seattle.

Mariners 7, Astros 6 (Game 3, April 9th)

After both pitchers started off their outing with 1-2-3 innings in the 1st, things started to go how many saw them going in the 2nd. One out walks to Jeremy Peña and Victor Caratini put runners on for Brendan Rodgers. Luis F. Castillo recorded a huge strikeout of Rodgers for the first out of the inning. He could not escape the inning unharmed. Jake Meyers, Cam Smith, and Jose Altuve rattled off three consecutive RBI singles to grab Houston a 3-0 lead.

Houston added another run in the 3rd on a bases loaded walk by Brendan Rodgers following an error by Castillo. Once the bullpen took over in the 5th, Houston’s offense went pretty quiet but Seattle could not get anything going. Doubles by J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena were wasted as Hunter Brown rolled through the Mariner offense. His pitch count forced him out of the game a little early but Brown still dominated for six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out three.

Some questionable pinch hitting decisions kept the score 4-0 going into the 8th with Casey Lawrence on the mound. Smith, Altuve, and Isaac Paredes all singled with one out to load the bases for Yordan Alvarez. The big lefty sent a fly ball to deep left field, and while Arozarena made the catch it was deep enough to score Smith and make it 5-0.

Seattle then put some pressure on the Houston bullpen. Facing Luis Contreras, Seattle loaded the bases with a Miles Mastrobuoni single and walks for J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez. With still nobody out Steven Okert entered out of the Astro bullpen and got Mitch Garver to fly out to shallow left and struck out Cal Raleigh to keep the bases loaded with two outs. When it felt as though all hope was lost, Randy Arozarena brought T-Mobile Park to life. A fastball on the inside corner was barreled up by Arozarena and he launched a grand slam out to left field. Arozarena’s third home run of the season brought the Mariners back to within one, trailing 5-4.

Jeremy Peña manufactured an insurance run in the 9th with a double, followed by a stolen base and a wild pitch to make it 6-4. With Josh Hader unavailable after pitching two innings the night before, Bryan Abreu looked to close out the series win for the Astros. After Donovan Solano singled to begin the inning, Leo Rivas hit a hard line out to right field for the first out. Miles Mastrobuoni then singled to put runners on the corners for J.P. Crawford. Crawford slapped a chopper up the third baseline that was fielded by Isaac Paredes. Paredes lunged to tag Solano out as he came back into third for the second out. However, Dan Wilson challenged the call and Solano was then ruled safe at third to load the bases with one out with the Mariners down by two.

The face of the franchise stepped to the plate as J-Rod quickly fell behind 0-2. Abreu then located a perfect fastball on the outer black, but Julio was ready for it. Rodríguez flipped a line drive down the right field line for a base hit. Solano and Mastrobuoni scored to tie the game at 6-6 while Crawford stopped at third on Julio’s first double of the year. With the winning run 90-feet away, Mitch Garver came to the plate and drew a tough walk to load the bases for Cal Raleigh. Raleigh hit into a fielder’s choice as Christian Walker threw a grounder home to get Crawford for the second out.

For the second consecutive inning, Randy Arozarena came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. This time the game was on the line. Arozarena was very patient and worked a 2-2 count. A fastball missed away to run the count full with one pitch to decide the game. That pitch would be a slider from Bryan Abreu and it wasn’t close. Arozarena took ball four and headed to first as Julio came home to score the winning run. The walk-off walk capped off a five RBI game for Arozarena and completed the Mariner comeback. From down 5-0 with two outs in the 8th, Seattle celebrated a 7-6 walk-off win over Houston for their first series win of the season.

Notable Performances

Astros

Mariners

• Randy Arozarena- 2-3, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, R, 2 BB
• Julio Rodríguez- 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB
• Luis F. Castillo (ND)- 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO

Injury Updates

Of course there was still some bad news despite the Mariners first series win of the season. Two usual starters for the Mariners were placed on the IL as Victor Robles landed on the list with a dislocated shoulder and a small fracture in the humeral head of his left shoulder. Robles will miss a minimum of 12 weeks and if surgery is required, he would miss the rest of the season. Dominic Canzone was called up to replace him.

In game two with Houston, Ryan Bliss had an awkward swing and was clearly in some discomfort despite staying in the game. It turns out that Bliss suffered a tear in his bicep and will miss some time, although the severity of the tear is still unknown. Leo Rivas will be the short time answer at second base although Jorge Polanco and Dylan Moore could see some time there as well.

What’s Next

With their first series win in the books, the Seattle Mariners (5-8) are now even with the Athletics in the basement of the AL West. Both teams sit four games back of the Mariners next opponents, the Texas Rangers. Texas (9-4) are coming off of their first series loss of the season when they dropped two out of three to the Chicago Cubs. Last season, Seattle dominated Texas, going 10-3 against the Rangers thanks in part to Texas’ injury issues in 2024.

The Rangers will be without one of their best hitters early in the season in Wyatt Langford who was placed on the IL on Wednesday. However, one of their struggling stars from last season is off to a much better start in 2025. All-Star catcher Jonah Heim came back down to Earth after a breakout 2023 but still had a respectable season. Heim’s OPS is .931 to start the season with three homers and seven runs batted in in just 29 at bats. Heim has had success in his career against the Mariners, driving in 31 runs in 50 games against Seattle. Of course you always have to be careful against players like Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, but with Heim’s nice start to the season, he is another bat the M’s have to be careful of.

The series will open up on Friday at 6:40pm as the Mariners put on their City Connect uniforms for the second time this season. Seattle lost their first game in the uniforms 7-0 to the Athletics but have some positive momentum after a dramatic, divisional series win. You can see the projected pitching matchups below with game times as well.

• Game 1, Friday 6:40pm- Jacob deGrom (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Bryce Miller (0-2, 5.73 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 6:40pm- Kumar Rocker (0-1, 7.88 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo (1-0, 3.75 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 1:10pm- Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2.29 ERA) vs. Logan Gilbert (0-1, 2.55 ERA)

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