Astros stun M's as Alvarez walk-off caps wild rally

HOUSTON -- The walk-off location tally Houston Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez deed to headdress a chaotic come-from-behind triumph successful Game 1 of the American League Division Series connected Tuesday called to caput large blasts of Octobers past.

It near the bat with each the ferocity and velocity of different postseason location tally astatine Minute Maid Park: Albert Pujols' laser disconnected Brad Lidge successful 2005. And it was the archetypal game-ending changeable by a squad that was trailing astatine the clip since Joe Carter's homer that won Toronto the 1993 World Series. And though it won't registry successful the all-time annals due to the fact that the Astros' 8-7 victory implicit the Seattle Mariners arrived truthful aboriginal successful the postseason, the 41,125 successful attendance and those successful some clubhouses -- elated connected 1 side, stunned soundless connected the different -- couldn't assistance but marvel astatine Álvarez's feat.

The Mariners, successful the postseason for the archetypal clip successful 2 decades, blew a pb akin to the 1 they'd flooded successful their chaotic card-clinching triumph Saturday against Toronto. And aft chipping distant astatine that 7-3 shortage with a two-run location tally by Alex Bregman successful the eighth inning, Houston rode Álvarez's location tally to its ninth consecutive playoff-opening victory, tying a large league record.

"If you're a instrumentality of Houston and that didn't get you excited, get you animated, I don't cognize what to say," Álvarez said. "I was besides speaking to my woman astir idiosyncratic that wasn't having a large day, and that infinitesimal changed their time for them, and those are the tiny details. You tin alteration somebody's time with things similar that."

As animated arsenic the Astros and assemblage were, Seattle's time changed demonstrably for the worse with 1 93 mph sinker implicit the bosom of the plate. With person Paul Sewald allowing 2 runners to reach, Mariners manager Scott Servais called upon left-hander Robbie Ray to look Álvarez, besides left-handed. Ray, the reigning AL Cy Young victor who signed a $115 cardinal escaped cause woody with Seattle past winter, is typically a starter, but Seattle planned to usage him successful a fireman relation successful Game 1.

Álvarez is nary mean conflagration. The 25-year-old is 1 of the champion hitters successful baseball, occupying the No. 3 spot successful Houston's unsafe lineup, and with nary discernible platoon divided and Ray's propensity to springiness up location runs, Servais gambled -- and lost. Álvarez fouled Ray's archetypal pitch, a 94 mph sinker, astir consecutive back. The 2nd went guardant 438 feet, landing successful the right-field bleachers aft trampolining disconnected Álvarez's bat astatine 117 mph.

"I was conscionable trying to get the sinker successful connected him," Ray said. "Just didn't get there. ... Just frustrating."

Never, Ray said, did helium see pitching astir Álvarez and loading the bases. The Mariners recovered themselves successful a precarious presumption due to the fact that Sewald deed pinch hitter David Hensley with a full-count fastball and mislaid Jeremy Pena by leaving implicit the sheet a 1-2 slider that the rookie whacked into halfway field. Then came Álvarez.

"He didn't miss it," Astros 2nd baseman Jose Altuve said. "He's conscionable a large hitter. He's not gonna miss twice."

Altuve knows the feeling of hitting a walk-off homer successful the playoffs, having won the 2019 pennant with his changeable to near tract astatine Minute Maid disconnected New York Yankees person Aroldis Chapman, but adjacent that was a necktie game. A postseason walk-off homer trailing by aggregate runs with 2 outs successful the ninth inning? Never happened anterior to Tuesday.

The Astros showing up successful October is thing new. They've been to 5 consecutive AL Championship Series and this play won an AL-best 106 games, astir matching their franchise record. With a loaded pitching staff, heavy bullpen, beardown lineup and fantabulous fielding, they're the presumptive favorites to triumph the pennant.

Of course, they didn't expect to commencement their postseason with ace Justin Verlander -- the apt AL Cy Young victor this play -- allowing six runs connected 10 hits successful 4 innings. Seattle jumped connected him for a tally successful the first, 3 successful the 2nd and a brace successful the fourth, with a two-run location tally from J.P. Crawford and the apical 2 hitters, Julio Rodriguez and Ty France, going 5 for their archetypal 5 and catalyzing the Mariners' offense.

Houston's bullpen mostly stifled Seattle, carving a way down which Astros hitters gladly walked. Yuli Gurriel homered successful the 4th to chopped the shortage to 6-3. Bregman did his occupation successful the eighth. And erstwhile Álvarez saw Ray warming, helium grabbed an iPad, looked done video of his 5 erstwhile at-bats against the 31-year-old and tried to replicate what helium did successful the regular season, erstwhile helium deed .306/.406/.613 successful 136 games.

"The postseason is conscionable an hold of the season, really," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "He has a precise dilatory pulse rate, I'm sure. He doesn't amusement excitement excessively much. He has a precocious level of concentration, subject and confidence. You cognize you've got a accidental erstwhile Yordan comes to the plate, and erstwhile helium doesn't travel done you're astir surprised. I mean, you cognize cipher tin bash it each the time, but he's beauteous bully astatine it."

Good undersells Álvarez. He enactment the Astros connected the committee archetypal with a two-run treble successful the 3rd inning and past accounted for their last tally connected a sinker that didn't descend erstwhile it was expected to -- and sunk Seattle's archetypal ace astatine stealing the home-field vantage that was successful its grip. The Mariners volition get different accidental Thursday, erstwhile Luis Castillo, their prized deadline acquisition, faces Houston left-hander Framber Valdez successful Game 2.

"It's similar a heavyweight fight," Servais said. "You're going to get punched. It's however you respond successful those moments and that's a pugnacious one. Today I thought we had it successful hand. You got to springiness them credit. Certainly they person been successful this spot galore times earlier and you don't quit."