Mariners reminded of not-so-fond Minute Maid memories

HOUSTON -- It had all the familiar and frustrating ingredients that the Mariners had seemingly exorcised in this building one year ago, one slow gut punch after another in a fateful seventh inning that sunk Seattle in a 5-3 loss on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

Five walks, the last of which came with the bases loaded. A throwing error by Cal Raleigh, a disciplined backstop, that led to a run on a pickoff attempt. A collision in right field between Julio Rodríguez and Mitch Haniger that prevented a throw to the plate and instead yielded a sacrifice fly. A two-out bunt single from longtime nemesis Jose Altuve that plated another run.

Seattle needed three arms -- Trent Thornton, Gabe Speier and Cody Bolton -- to get through the frame. And then with a rally brewing immediately after, a baserunning blunder by Rodríguez -- who forced Josh Rojas into a preventable rundown and led to him being the third out at the plate -- halted any hopes for a comeback.

“We didn't deserve to win the game tonight,” Raleigh said.

For a Mariners team built on pitching, defense and playing clean, it took just two half-innings for everything to fall apart. Adding to the sting was that it followed another dominant start from George Kirby, who was at only 88 pitches after six innings of one-run ball, but left for precautionary reasons relating to a right knee issue that he’s been dealing with.

“It’s been kind of bugging me for the last couple of weeks and I'm pitching through it,” Kirby said. “Obviously, I'd like to go back out there. But we decided probably the best idea was to end it there and give it to the bullpen.”

Asked if it’s something he’s concerned about, Kirby said: “No, not at all.”

The Mariners hate calling this place their house of horrors, especially after going 6-1 and outscoring the Astros, 39-15, here in 2023. But the nature of Friday’s loss presented many all-too-familiar memories from years past, when they went 7-32 in Houston over the four years prior, including a tense 2022 American League Division Series that featured one of the most gut-wrenching moments in franchise history.

The roaring environment on Friday wasn’t at the deafening pitch when Robbie Ray surrendered that walk-off homer to Yordan Alvarez in Game 1 of an eventual sweep. But the ticketed 33,796 fans were still plenty loud -- notably when Rodríguez ran into Haniger on the tying sac fly from Mauricio Dubón.

Had Haniger fielded the out cleanly, he would’ve at least been in position for a throw to the plate attempting to nab Yainer Diaz. Instead, the only play was to third base, where Jake Meyers reached anyway then scored on Altuve’s bunt.

"We couldn't hear anything,” Rodríguez said. “He wasn't able to hear me, I wasn't able to hear him … and [the ball] was in the middle of both of us."

Rodríguez also took ownership of the out on the basepaths that ended with Rojas being tagged out at home. Had he remained on second base, the Mariners would’ve had another at-bat, from Raleigh as the potential go-ahead run, with two on and two outs instead of the inning-ending 9-2-4-1-6-2 double play.

"I thought the fly ball was deep enough … I just didn't pick up the runner on third,” Rodríguez said. “I think I should have done that in order to stop, and not assume that [Rojas] was going to go on that throw."

The Mariners’ other lapses in the series opener were even more uncharacteristic, given that their bullpen had led MLB since April 10 in ERA (1.81), WHIP (0.88) and opponents’ on-base percentage (.249) entering Friday’s play.

Seattle’s five walks in the seventh alone were one shy of the entire team’s season high, on April 5 at Milwaukee, when Andrés Muñoz walked the bases loaded then issued a walk-off walk.

Raleigh took the brunt of the blame there, saying: “I just didn't think my sequencing was very good in that seventh inning. I feel like I could have done a better job with [Thornton] there; same thing when Speier came in the game.”

And the dagger was the bunt single, when Altuve beat an athletic scoop and throw from Rojas by half a step.

“Altuve has beaten us in a lot of different ways, but he's never beaten us with a bunt before,” manager Scott Servais said. “He's just a heads-up player and he executed a play late in the game after we gave them the opportunity, put them in that position, and they took advantage of it."