Gurriel delivers walk-off hit in 10th as Astros top Mariners
Yuli Gurriel delivered his second walk-off hit in as many nights, roping an RBI double to the right-center field gap to lift the Houston Astros to a 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
Gurriel clubbed a solo homer in the 10th inning to push Houston to a victory in the series opener. His series-clinching drive came against Mariners closer Roenis Elias (2-1), who surrendered a leadoff single to Michael Brantley in the 10th before unleashing a wild pitch that pushed Brantley into scoring position. Gurriel followed by walloping a 2-0 changeup that just eluded Mariners center fielder Mallex Smith.
Tim Beckham, Domingo Santana and Daniel Vogelbach all homered for the Mariners.
Astros right-hander Justin Verlander was again victimized by the gopher ball, running his season total to 23 homers allowed, seven shy of the career-high 30 he surrendered in 2016 with Detroit.
Beckham provided the Mariners a 2-0 lead by smashing a hanging slider 403 feet to the train tracks above left field with two outs in the second inning. His two-run blast plated Kyle Seager, who worked a walk just prior to Beckham belting his 12th home run on the season.
Even after the Astros rallied for five runs in the bottom of the second, Verlander kept laboring. He limited the damage to one run in the third inning despite allowing a leadoff single to Dee Gordon and a follow up double to Smith, with Gordon scoring on an RBI groundout from Santana. Two innings later, Santana crushed his 18th home run into the upper deck in right, a two-out solo shot that cut the Houston lead to 5-4. Verlander worked fewer than six innings for just the second time this season, allowing four runs on five hits and a season-high four walks.
In the top of the seventh, the Mariners clubbed their third two-out homer of the game, this time with Vogelbach going the opposite way to left-center field off Astros right-hander Ryan Pressly.
Vogelbach pulled the Mariners even with his 20th home run.
Jake Marisnick struck the biggest blow in the Astros' five-run second with a two-run double off Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi.
--Field Level Media
