*Photo from the Houston Chronicle*
Houston wins series 3-0
Wanna get just a brief idea of how long this game went? There were two 7th inning stretches. Lance McCullers Jr and Luis Garcia shined, Jeremy Pena broke the ice, and the Houston Astros defeated the Seattle Mariners with a 1-0 victory in extra innings on Saturday afternoon in Seattle.
This was no regular extra innings affair. Remember the Rays-Guardians game that went 15 innings? This one went 18 innings, the equivalent of two regular 9 inning games. There was a 7th inning stretch, and then a 14th inning stretch, and there weren't any runs on the board. After the Rays-Guardians game set the record for longest scoreless playoff game, this game took that record a week later.
With the two games in one victory, the Astros picked up their 3rd straight win, sweeping the Mariners out of the playoffs. The Astros secured their spot in the ALCS and homefield advantage as the number one seed. They've made the ALCS every year since 2017, the year they won it all.
Astros star second baseman Jose Altuve said that "In a team like this, with the pitching we have, with the defense we have, we never give up. We went out and played every single inning like it was the last inning. Putting everything we have, until Jeremy came and hit the big homer."
After some impressive game saving plays throughout extra innings, Pena finally decided that enough was enough in the 18th inning. He drove a pitch into the left center field gap, sneaking over the wall and into the seats for a solo homer, proving the difference maker.
McCullers Jr got the start, pitching the first 6 shutout innings in game 4. Hector Neris, Rafael Montero, Ryan Pressly, Bryan Abreu, and Ryne Stanek each threw scoreless innings. Hunter Brown provided two scoreless innings, before Garcia came on and pitched 5 innings deep into extras.
Houston manager Dusty Baker said of the win that "Boy, our pitching staff did a heck of a job here. Theirs did a heck of a job, especially tonight on us, because it's hard to hold somebody scoreless for that long on both sides. This is some team. These guys, they grind and grind and grind and sooner or later we broke through."
Rookie George Kirby started for the Mariners, throwing 7 shutout innings. Andres Munoz threw the 8th, before Diego Castillo and Matt Brash combined for the next two innings. Paul Sewald, Erik Swanson, Matt Festa, Matt Boyd, Penn Murfee, and Robbie Ray also pitched for the Mariners.
Seattle also sees their magical season come to an end in rather disappointing fashion. They came in second in the AL West, clinched their first playoff spot since 2001, and came back from down 8-1 in game two of the wild card round. It's unfortunate for the Mariners that their season then ended with 3 straight losses to the mighty Astros.
Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said of the season ending that "You never want to see somebody else celebrating on your home field, but hats off to them. It's still going to be imprinted in a lot of our minds for a while, and we're going to take it next year and remember how it felt."
Up next, the Astros advance to the ALCS to face the winner of the series between the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees. The Astros have not announced a starter yet, but Justin Verlander is likely in line to draw the start.
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