David Bridges
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Yordan Alvarez hit a game-winning, three-run home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Houston Astros overcome a 7-3 deficit to beat the Seattle Mariners 8-7 in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
The Mariners tagged AL Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander for six earned runs and 10 hits through four innings to take a 6-2 lead.
Big hits included a Cal Raleigh RBI single, a Julio Rodríguez two-RBI double and a pair of Ty France RBI singles sandwiched around a J.P. Crawford solo home run.
The Astros and M’s traded solo home runs courtesy of Yuli Gurriel and Eugenio Suárez, respectively, and Alex Bregman then cut the deficit to 7-5 in the eighth with a two-run blast.
The bottom of the ninth soon arrived, and the Astros got a pair of runners on base courtesy of a David Hensley hit-by-pitch and a Jeremy Peña single.
Alvarez then strolled up to the dish and smoked a Robbie Ray pitch 438 feet for the game-winner.
It was a shocking game all around, from the Mariners’ dominance of Verlander to the Astros’ unlikely late comeback.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and many others reacted to the Alvarez bomb, the remarkable Astros win and the Mariners’ stunning collapse.
Game 2 of the Mariners-Astros series will take place in Houston on Thursday at 3:37 p.m. ET. Framber Valdez will pitch for Houston, and the M’s will send out Luis Castillo.
