The Houston Astros are heading again to the ALCS. Saturday night time the Astros outlasted the Seattle Mariners to finish the sweep in the best-of-three ALDS (HOU 1, SEA 0 in 18 innings). The sport was once scoreless till Jeremy Peña supplied the game-winning and series-clinching solo house run in the 18th inning.
At 18 innings, Game 3 is tied for the longest longest postseason sport in historical past, and it’s the first postseason sport to be scoreless via a minimum of 15 innings. Houston advances to their 6th instantly ALCS and the Mariners are heading house for the offseason.
Here are 5 takeaways from Game 3.
1. King Félix threw out the ceremonial first pitch
Saturday was once the primary postseason sport in Seattle since 2001 and there was once no higher Mariners legend to throw out the ceremonial first pitch than Félix Hernández, the franchise’s biggest pitcher. Here is King Félix’s first pitch:
“It felt good to be home,” Hernández instructed the Seattle Times about throwing out the primary pitch, including he instructed the Mariners would not decide to it till when they clinched a postseason berth. Can’t cross jinxing one thing like that. In comparable King Félix information, an extraordinary just right tweet was once made all through Game 3:
Hernández, who continues to be simplest 36, performed 13 seasons with the Mariners from 2005-19, going to 6 All-Star Games and profitable the 2010 AL Cy Young award. He is the franchise chief in each vital pitching statistic, together with wins, ERA, innings, strikeouts, WAR, and many others. You title it, King Félix leads in it.
2. Kirby threw the sport of his existence
Back in 2017, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe did the analysis and located just about each group that got here again from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five collection did so because of a dominant pitching efficiency in Game 3. Rookie righty George Kirby gave the Mariners that dominant pitching efficiency Saturday, regardless that the offense could not pick out him up.
Kirby close the Astros out throughout seven innings, together with a vote of self assurance from skipper Scott Servais when he caught with Kirby in opposition to Jose Altuve with two on and two outs in the 7th inning of a scoreless sport, leaving his teen in to stand probably the most superb hitters in baseball for a fourth time in the sport together with his group’s season at the line. Kirby fanned Altuve on a fastball approach up and out of the zone.
Kirby, the No. 20 pick out in the 2019 draft, had a three.02 ERA in 13 begins after being referred to as again up from Triple-A in June, and he additionally closed out Seattle’s Game 2 win in the Wild Card Series. The younger guy began the season in Double-A. Saturday was once no longer simply Seattle’s maximum essential sport of 2022. It was once their maximum essential sport since 2001, and Kirby delivered.
Unfortunately for Kirby and the Mariners, Lance McCullers Jr. was once simply as just right, placing out seven in six shutout innings. He allowed simplest two hits. The sport remained scoreless till the 18th inning, when …
3. Peña were given the Big Hit
Rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña, who hit 12 house runs in 163 profession video games on the University of Rhode Island and was once tasked with changing Carlos Correa this season, after all broke via and swatted the series-winning house run in opposition to rookie righty Penn Murfee. Murfee’s slider slid correct again over the plate:
Up to that time, the 2 groups have been a mixed 16 for 115 (.139) with 41 strikeouts on the plate. That comprises an 0 for 8 for Jose Altuve, an 0 for 7 for Yordan Alvarez, and an 0 for 7 for Cal Raleigh. Never prior to had Altuve long past worse than 0 for six in a sport in his profession, common season or postseason. Kirby and McCullers have been superb. So have been the bullpens:
|
Astros bullpen |
12 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
15 |
0 |
7 |
|
Mariners bullpen |
11 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
9 |
The two groups went a mixed 0 for 19 with runners in scoring place (0 for 11 for Astros and nil for 8 for Mariners) for the reason that bullpens have been so nasty. Nineteen overall plate appearances with runners place in an 18-inning sport tells you all you wish to have to grasp. Scoring possibilities have been few and a ways between. It was once going to take a homer to win Game 3.
4. Rodríguez in short stored Seattle’s season
Shoutout to Julio Rodríguez. The Mariners wunderkind briefly stored his group’s season with an incredible diving catch with two on and one out in the sixteenth inning when Yuli Gurriel covered a ball into the right-center box hole and Rodríguez ran it down. Check it out:
According to Statcast, that play had a ten % catch chance given the go out speed and trajectory. Rodríguez flew out for the overall out of the sport and Seattle’s season, however I’m no longer certain what extra he will have performed for his group this season. He was once improbable on either side of the ball. The Mariners have a bona fide famous person to construct round.
5. It was once tied for the longest sport in historical past
As famous, this was once the tied longest postseason sport in baseball historical past. It was once additionally the primary postseason sport to be scoreless via a minimum of 15 innings. Here are the longest postseason video games ever:
- 2022 ALDS, Game 3: Astros 1, Mariners in 18 innings
- 2018 World Series, Game 3: Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2 in 18 innings
- 2014 NLDS, Game 2: Giants 2, Nationals 1 in 18 innings
- 2005 NLDS, Game 4: Astros 7, Braves 6 in 18 innings
- 1986 NLCS, Game 6: Mets 7, Astros 6 in 16 innings
Eight days in the past the Guardians and Rays have been scoreless via 14 innings and, on the time, it was once the longest scoreless sport in postseason historical past. So, in the primary 121 MLB season, by no means had two groups failed to attain via 14 innings in a postseason sport. Now it is came about two times this month. Go determine.
Up subsequent
The Mariners are going house and the Astros are going again to the ALCS. It is their 6th consecutive shuttle to the Championship Series, the second one longest such streak in baseball historical past in the back of the 1991-88 Braves (8 years, no longer together with the 1994 strike season). Houston will face the winner of the Guardians vs. Yankees ALDS. That collection will finish Saturday on the earliest.