HOUSTON (AP) — When the Seattle Mariners took a chance by pitching to Houston’s Yordan Alvarez instead of walking him with two on and one out in the 10th inning Sunday, the All-Star slugger was determined to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I just got focused and said I was going to be the one,” he said in Spanish through a translator.
And he was — hitting an RBI single to lift the Astros to a 3-2 win.
Mauricio Dubón started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and the Mariners intentionally walked Jose Altuve. Dubón advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Yuli Gurriel.
Alvarez then laced a grounder off Brennan Bernardino (0-1), who was making his MLB debut, to left field to send Dubón home and start the celebration.
“Tough place to make your Major League debut in,” manager Scott Servais said. “Tough situation when they start with the guy on second and here comes the Astros’ top of the lineup.”
Hector Neris (4-3) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win.
The Mariners were playing without star rookie Julio Rodríguez, who was placed on the injured list with a bruised right wrist Sunday after being hit by a pitch a night earlier.
The AL-West leading Astros scored two runs in the first inning to take the lead. The Mariners, who are 12 games back in second place in the division, used a two-run homer by Jesse Winker in the eight inning to tie it.
Houston’s win comes a night after Seattle scored two runs in the ninth to rally for a 5-4 victory. The victory gives the Astros a 3-1 advantage in the series.
“Once they tied it up, I think we got a lot of energy,” Alvarez said. “Then we told ourselves: ‘OK, we can’t lose today’s game like we did yesterday,’ and that was kind of part of it.”
Houston led 2-0 and the Mariners…
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