Mariners battle back, win nail-biter in extras

HOUSTON -- The stakes have grown so greatly for Paul Sewald in this breakout season, but they were never higher than on Sunday afternoon, when he stepped to the Minute Maid Park mound in front of one of the Majors’ most raucous home crowds and against the top of the American League’s best lineup.

Fan favorite Lance McCullers Jr., one of Houston’s starting pitchers, had just taken over as the automatic runner in the 10th inning, igniting a roar that was drowned out by an even louder ovation when Jose Altuve stepped to the plate and singled.

That prompted a consult from Mariners manager Scott Servais, who intentionally walked Michael Brantley, then echoed instruction that has become so cliché in baseball vernacular; yet, it was precisely what Sewald needed to hear in that moment:

“You just have to execute one pitch at a time,” Servais said.

Wearing the emotions of his newfound "Dad Strength," Sewald zeroed in and struck out Carlos Correa, Jason Castro and Yuli Gurriel in order -- and with such deliberate intent over 16 pitches -- to strand the bases loaded and push the series finale to the 11th.

Ty France then followed with a go-ahead single, and Kyle Seager blew the doors open with a three-run homer that traveled a Statcast-projected 446 feet and ignited a mass exodus among the 27,526 on hand, as Seattle avoided a sweep with a 6-3 victory.

“I had to pitch like every pitch was the last pitch of the game, because it really was,” Sewald said. “You walk a guy, you give up a hit, we really had to go for punchouts only, and we made pitches when we had to.”

It was far from a sellout, and there are still six weeks until October, but Houston’s emotional highs of a potential walk-off win were rapidly vacuumed out by Sewald’s shutdown and Seager’s big fly.

“Very fitting for Seager to hit the three-run bomb, because there was probably the most annoying fan I've seen in quite some years all over our team, and certainly Seager all day, behind our dugout,” Servais joked after his club avoided what would’ve been its first sweep in three months.

The Astros still made it interesting in the bottom of the 11th, when Keynan Middleton loaded the bases with one out. But Servais called on Yohan Ramirez, who has essentially been the back-and-forth arm from Triple-A Tacoma all season, to retire Altuve and Brantley, which he did, on a strikeout and a lineout.

Alas, from Ramirez to Sewald and France to Seager, there was much to unpack before the Mariners boarded their charter to Oakland, where the A’s await, tied for the second American League Wild Card spot with a three-game edge over Seattle.

Sunday’s late-innings heroics manifested on a day where the Mariners had only reached second base once before the eighth inning and looked like they were headed to another disappointing defeat. That was until pinch-hitter Jake Bauers and leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford lined back-to-back doubles that plated Seattle’s first run -- and against old friend Kendall Graveman, who was making his first appearance against his former teammates since the July 27 trade.

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But it was France’s authoritative solo home run in the ninth inning off closer Ryan Pressly, just the fourth the two-time All-Star has surrendered all season, that tied the game and put Seattle back into familiar territory. That long ball pushed the Mariners to extras, where they now have 12 wins, more than any team in the Majors.

“We’ve played a ton of close games this year, so we know what’s it’s like, and we know how capable we are of getting that big inning going,” France said. “So yeah, nothing really in our mindset changes. We’re still just trying to get good pitches to hit. Lately, it's been later in the game, but we’ll take a win.”

For France, it was a return to the venue where he suffered a right wrist injury that went from pesky to serious, requiring an IL stint. In a sense, his bat has come full circle. In 78 games since returning from the IL, the first baseman is hitting .320/.375/.503 (.879 OPS). But he’s taken off at an even higher level of late, having homered in three of his past four games while hitting .358/.403/.569 (.972 OPS) since the All-Star break; his batting average being the highest in the AL in this stretch.

France has not only emerged as Seattle’s most consistent hitter, but arguably its best all-around player.

"I can swing now confidently without any pain,” France said. “So that's a huge confidence boost for me.”

There were certainly concerning trends in this up-and-down weekend in Houston, notably that beyond France’s 6-for-11 showing, the offense went 14-for-94 (.149) and was overall outscored by 20 (30-10). They got nothing going against Sunday’s starter Framber Valdez, who pitched seven scoreless innings and had only three batted balls leave the infield.

Oakland’s pitching ranks ahead of Houston at fifth in the AL with a 15.3 WAR, per FanGraphs. So the road could be just as stingy. But the Mariners will be riding into this upcoming week with momentum from another impressive win.