Yordan Álvarez walk-off HR sinks Mariners in stunning 8-7 loss to Astros in Game 1

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HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 11: Yordan Alvarez #44 of the Houston Astros celebrates after hitting a walk-off home run against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning in game one of the American League Division Series at Minute Maid Park on October

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Yordan Álvarez hammered a three-run home run off Robbie Ray with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to deliver a crushing 8-7 defeat to the Seattle Mariners in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

Manager Scott Servais made the decision to go to Ray, a left-handed starter and key free agent signing this offseason, to face Álvarez in a lefty vs. lefty matchup after Paul Sewald hit David Hensley with a 3-2 pitch and allowed a single to Jeremy Peña in the ninth inning. Álvarez was 1-for-3 lifetime (a single) with two walks in five plate appearances against Ray.

Álvarez fouled off a first pitch fastball from Ray before squaring up the second one he saw and sending Minute Maid Park into a frenzy. The 93 miles per hour offering from Ray caught way too much of the plate and Álvarez drilled into the right field seats to stun Seattle.

"We talked about it coming into the series," Servais said of the decision to go to Ray. "We talked about it pregame today. I looked at it in the seventh inning and said, ‘hey, this could happen.’ So that was the plan going in. End of the day, you have a plan, you still got to execute it."

The collapse in the ninth inning threw away a brilliant performance by the Seattle offense against A.L. Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander that put the Mariners in position for a 1-0 lead in the series. The Mariners battered Verlander for six runs on 10 hits as the Astros' ace only went four innings.

But just as the Mariners authored a great comeback in Saturday's series-clinching win over the Toronto Blue Jays, the Astros overcame a four-run deficit to thwart Seattle on Tuesday in the opening game of the best-of-five series.

"It's a tough one, no question about it," Servais said. "I thought we played a very good ball game today. We did a lot of great things offensively. … It's like a heavyweight fight. You're going to get punched and it's how you respond in those moments and that's a tough one today. I thought we had it in hand."

Alex Bregman in the eighth inning off Andrés Muñoz that cut the lead to 7-5. Christian Vazquez grounded out to shortstop before Hensley's walk put a runner on. Sewald then struck out José Altuve to reach the cusp of victory. Peña's single allowed Álvarez to come to the plate and led Servais to make the call to the pen one last time. Álvarez's homer then delivered the final blow.

Julio Rodríguez and Ty France combined for five hits, two doubles, a triple, four RBI and three runs scored against Verlander.

The six runs allowed by Verlander are tied for the most he's ever allowed in 31 career postseason starts. He also allowed six runs for the Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the 2006 World Series. The 10 hits by Seattle are the most he's ever allowed in a playoff outing.

Verlander also allowed six runs on 10 hits to the Mariners in a May 27th start that was his worst outing of the 2022 season. It was his only loss in six regular starts against Seattle this year.

"I think we were aggressive," France said. "He threw a lot of pitches in the zone and we put good swings on it."

Logan Gilbert allowed three runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts over 5 ⅓ innings for Seattle as the starter.

"It stings. It hurts," Gilbert said. "I think the main thing about this team is we don't quit. We have a ton of fight. That's who we are. That's our identity. We've proven that all year so why stop now? We're going to keep going. It's a long series. It does hurt, but we'll bounce back."

Rodríguez walked and France singled to put early pressure on Verlander. Cal Raleigh delivered another big hit with a one-out single to score Rodríguez as Seattle took a 1-0 lead.

Adam Frazier and Jarred Kelenic each singled to lead off the second inning. Opportunistic base running led to both advancing a base on a fly-out to deep center from J.P. Crawford. Rodríguez then capitalized with a double to the gap in right-center to drive both runs home as the lead grew to 3-0.

The Astros punched back in the third inning. Chas McCormick's leadoff single and a one-out walk from Altuve put runners on for Houston slugger Yordan Álvarez. Álvarez took advantage of the short left field wall at Minute Maid Park with a relatively soft fly ball that hit off the wall over the head of Jarred Kelenic. The two-out double from Álvarez allowed both runs to score to cut Seattle's lead to 4-2.

After a pair of strikeouts of Adam Frazier and Kelenic for Verlander, J.P. Crawford crushed a 3-1 pitch for a 383-foot homer to right field to extend the lead to 5-3.

Seattle's defense came up big multiple times in the sixth inning. Mitch Haniger tracked down a hard line drive from Alex Bregman in right field for the first out of the inning.

After Kyle Tucker singled and advanced to second on a Matt Brash wild pitch, Yuli Gurriel ripped a line drive to left that Kelenic ran down for the second out. The Gurriel liner had an expected batting average of .890 and Kelenic's play kept Tucker at second.

Eugenio Suárez then made a great charging scoop and throw to retire Trey Mancini for the final out.

Suárez then delivered at the plate with a solo homer off Cristian Javier to left field into the short porch to make it a 7-3 game.

Diego Castillo got Altuve to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the seventh inning,

But the Astros' bats weren't done. Álvarez hammered a hard line drive off the right field wall just a few feet from a home run off with one-out in the eighth inning. Bregman then crushed a hanging slider from Muñoz deep to left field for a two-run homer that cut the lead to 7-5. It's the first home run Muñoz had allowed since June 10th to Bobby Dalbec of the Boston Red Sox, a span off 44 appearances.

Muñoz struck out Tucker and Mancini around a two-out single from Gurriel to get out of the jam before the collapse in the ninth inning.

"It sucks. It's not how you want to start a series," France said.