USATSI_19215815 — Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Astros' Álvarez Walks Off Seattle Mariners to Take Game 1

Yordan Álvarez topped the Houston Astros' comeback Tuesday with a walk-off home run.

Author:
Kenny Van Doren and Ben Silver
Publish date:
Oct 11, 2022 7:39 PM EDT

In this story:

With two on, two outs, Yordan Álvarez stepped into the box. The towering lefty was opposed by Robbie Ray — who entered to face the All-Star designated hitter.

Ray threw two pitches. The second landed 438 feet away from home plate, traveling at 116.7 mph. Álvarez's three-run home run solidified the Houston Astros' first lead of the contest and a walk-off victory to set the tone in Game 1 of the series.

Álvarez launched the second come-from-behind walk-off home run in postseason history by a team down to its final out. The first came off the bat of Kirk Gibson for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

Manager Dusty Baker granted an at-bat to David Hensley — who reached on a hit by pitch — two batters prior pinch hitting for Mauricio Dubón.

Altuve struck out a batter later, but Jeremy Peña followed with a single, knocking out Paul Sewald and paving way for Álvarez to walk off a win.

To rally towards the home stretch, a fearsome trio of Astros hitters stepped up to the plate in the eighth. Peña led off, but his lined shot was snared by Mariners' first baseman Ty France. Yet Álvarez ripped a single off the wall in right before Alex Bregman strode to the plate.

His tremendous two-run blast to deep left-center brought Minute Maid Park to its feet and the Astros back within spitting distance.

Seattle reliever Andrés Muñoz escaped that frame, punching out Trey Mancini with Gurriel on first. The Astros were threatening again, and similar to their other chances to tie the contest, they came up short before Álvarez's ninth-inning heroics.

Houston Astros Pitcher Justin Verlander
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

But the Astros should not ever have been to that point in the first place. In his first postseason outing since the 2019 World Series, Justin Verlander wasn't himself. The Astros ace surrendered six runs to the Seattle Mariners on 10 hits, the biggest one being a double from rookie outfielder Julio Rodríguez.

Despite a first inning single from Cal Raleigh, the 1-0 Mariners lead felt very surmountable. Yet, by the second inning Rodríguez had taken the wind out of Houston's sails.

His two-RBI base hit split the right-center gap and scored both Adam Frazier and Jared Kelenic.

The following inning Álvarez doubled home a pair of runs with two outs an inning prior to make the Astros' deficit just two, but a Kyle Tucker strikeout ended any threat to even the score or take the lead.

Verlander looked like he had finally found a groove in the third, retiring the three batters he faced. Looking to stay on the same track with another clean frame, the righty was an out away from such a clean inning in the fourth.

But J.P. Crawford knocked the Cy Young winner off his horse with a solo home run in the inning to build Seattle's run total to five. Rodríguez followed with his second extra-base hit of the afternoon with a two-out triple.

In response to Verlander's last inning on the mound, Yuli Gurriel launched a home run, marking his second extra-base hit of the afternoon. In back-to-back innings, the Astros offense cut the deficit, but it seemed too little too late.

Verlander didn't take the mound in the following frame. His evening ended after surrendering six runs on 10 hits and one walk, throwing 54 of his 81 pitches for strikes. His three strikeouts gave him sole possession for the most in postseason history (208).

Bryan Abreu followed Verlander for his second-ever postseason appearance — the first coming against the New York Yankees in the 2019 American League Championship Series, where he allowed two runs in 0.2 innings of work.

Abreu responded accordingly with a scoreless inning, fanning a pair of Mariners, yet Seattle again widened the deficit in the seventh with an Eugenio Suarez solo blast.

Suarez's home run came off Cristian Javier — Houston's strongest long-relief option — who only pitched only 1.1 innings out the bullpen. Behind Javier, Hunter Brown made his postseason debut. The rookie tossed a scoreless frame, yielding just one hit.

Rafael Montero took the ninth inning against his former club. The righty retired the side in his first-career playoff appearance. The offense lit a fire in the bottom half of the inning to award Montero with the win.

The Astros open Game 2 starting at 2:37 p.m. Thursday at Minute Maid Park following an off day. Framber Valdez is scheduled to face right-hander Luis Castillo.