M's rally in 9th vs. Astros for first win of season
HOUSTON -- The Mariners finally came through in the clutch Thursday night at Minute Maid Park, getting RBI singles in the ninth inning from Jarrod Dyson and Jean Segura off closer Ken Giles to beat the Astros, 4-2, for their first win of the season.
"It was good to get that hit. And it was even better to get that win," said Dyson, who snapped Seattle's 1-for-32 stretch with runners in scoring position for the series with the go-ahead single. "That's a tough bunch. Houston has great pitching, good hitters and they play solid defense, so it was good to scratch out one here. Hopefully that'll carry over to Anaheim."
Giles lamented a one-out walk and hit-by-pitch for setting up the inning.
"I didn't want it to go like that, but I have to look past it and move on," Giles said. "Things didn't go my way. We had a lot of chances. I had a lot of chances to put them away and didn't execute. I threw good pitches and just didn't execute them the right way I wanted to."
Astros outfielder George Springer led off the game with his third homer of the season, sending an Ariel Miranda pitch 454 feet over the left-field wall. Seattle's Mitch Haniger and Houston's Marwin Gonzalez swapped solo shots in the third to give the Astros a 2-1 lead.
• Haniger gives Seattle's offense needed spark
After the Astros were unable to score with the base loaded and no outs in the fifth, the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs against Astros starter Joe Musgrove in the sixth. Kyle Seager hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Haniger with the tying run, but reliever Michael Feliz escaped further damage.
Despite hitting .221 as a team in the first four games, the Astros were content to win three of four from a division rival to start the season.
• Astros' vaunted offense hasn't jelled yet
"I don't think either team really swung the bats the way they're going to swing during the season," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "We'll take our three out of four and get to the next series. I'm happy we found ways to win games."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Escape act: The Astros had Miranda on the ropes when they loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, sporting a 2-1 lead and bringing the heart of the order to the plate. But Miranda got Jose Altuve to ground into a 5-2-3 double play, with Seager firing home to get Norichika Aoki and catcher Carlos Ruiz throwing to first in time to double up Altuve, who slipped coming out of the box. Seattle then intentionally walked Carlos Correa to reload the bases before Carlos Beltran lined out to Robinson Cano at second.
"Great play by Seager and Chooch [Ruiz] turning it around to get it to first base," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "That was the play of the game. We were kind of up against it, our bullpen was a little short tonight. Getting through that inning, for me that was enough for Miranda. He'd done what we hoped he could do tonight; keep us in the game through five."
Springer dinger II: Playing the role of hero in the 13th inning of Wednesday's win over the Mariners with a walk-off three-run homer wasn't enough for Springer. The Astros outfielder led off Thursday's game with a long homer to left field, giving him homers in consecutive at-bats. At 114.2 mph and 454 feet, Thursday's homer tied for both Springer's second-hardest and second-farthest HR of the Statcast™ Era.
Per Elias, Springer became the first player in Astros history to hit a leadoff homer the game after hitting a walk-off homer. It was last done in the Majors by Scott Hairston of the Padres, Aug. 3-4, 2007.
QUOTABLE
"It's one series. It will quickly evaporate once he gets a couple of multi-hit games and the world will be right again." -- Hinch on Jose Altuve's 3-for-17 start
"Pretty unbelievable. And coming in the first win of the season for the team, I couldn't be more proud of the guys." -- Mariners rookie reliever Dan Altavilla on his first career win after striking out Altuve, Correa and Yulieski Gurriel in the eighth
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Segura went 2-for-5 to became just the fourth Mariner to record three multi-hit games in the first four games of a season, joining Ichiro Suzuki (2001 and '05), Edgar Martinez ('01) and Justin Smoak ('14).
REPLAY REVIEW
The Astros got a call overturned for the final out in the second inning. First-base umpire Jeff Nelson originally ruled Dyson beat Musgrove to the base for a hit, but replay showed Musgrove clearly stepped on the base first for the third out.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mariners: Veteran right-hander Yovani Gallardo makes his Mariners debut Friday in a 7 p.m. PT series opener at Anaheim. The 31-year-old was 6-8 with a 5.42 ERA last year for the Orioles and has only faced the Angels twice in his career (0-0, 7.00 ERA in nine innings).
Astros: Right-hander Mike Fiers takes the mound when the Astros open a three-game series at 7:10 p.m. CT Friday against the Royals at Minute Maid Park. Fiers, who went 11-8 with a 4.48 ERA last year, is 0-2 lifetime against the Royals with a 6.46 ERA. He had a 1.98 ERA in Spring Training, walking five and striking out 13 in four starts.
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Greg Johns has covered the Mariners since 1997, and for MLB.com since 2011. Follow him on Twitter [
@GregJohnsMLB]() and listen to his podcast.
Brian McTaggart has covered the Astros since 2004, and for MLB.com since 2009. Follow @brianmctaggart on Twitter and listen to his podcast.