The Houston Astros, winners of two of the first three games, were looking to seal the series at home against the Seattle Mariners inside Daikan Park on Sunday afternoon. Seattle jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Astros tied the game in the sixth inning. Then, in the ninth, Christian Walker ended it with a walk-off two-run homer to win it 5-3.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In the final game of the four-game set between the Astros and the Mariners, Seattle got a pair on the board in the top of the first. Set up by singles from Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena, Mitch Garver drove them both in with a two-run double to center field.
In the third, Seattle added to it with a single from Donovan Solano to score Rodriguez and extend the lead to 3-0. However, the Astros cut into the lead in the bottom of the third as Christian Walker singled to score Isaac Paredes and Victor Caratini hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Jose Altuve to make it 3-2.
Three innings later, Jake Meyers got on base, setting up Cam Smith to drive in the tying run with an RBI double.
In the bottom of the eighth, Meyers got on again after a grounder to JP Crawford was thrown away into the camera well to advance Meyers to second on the error. Later in the inning, the Astros were able to load the bases with Meyers as well as walks to Yainer Diaz and Jeremy Pena. Paredes then grounded out to end the inning and head to the ninth with a tied game.
Altuve started the bottom of the ninth with a single over the head of Crawford to get a runner on for Christian Walker, who launched a two-run home run into the Crawford Boxes to win it 5-3 for their third win of the four-game series.
BIG NUMBER: 1.5
The win over the Mariners closes the gap for the Astros to just 1.5 games at the Memorial Day mark.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Christian Walker
Walker had a productive day at the plate, going 3-5, including the walk-off two-run homer to win the game and the series.
UP NEXT: After taking Memorial Day off, Houston (28-25) will return to the diamond to host the Athletics (22-31) beginning on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. on Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.