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 recreation used to be scoreless till Jeremy Peña equipped 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 recreation in historical past, and it’s the first postseason recreation to be scoreless thru no less than 15 innings. Houston advances to their 6th immediately 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 used to be the primary postseason recreation in Seattle since 2001 and there used to be 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 advised the Seattle Times about throwing out the primary pitch, including he advised the Mariners would not decide to it till when they clinched a postseason berth. Can’t pass jinxing one thing like that. In similar King Félix information, an extraordinary just right tweet used to be made all over Game 3:
Hernández, who continues to be handiest 36, performed 13 seasons with the Mariners from 2005-19, going to 6 All-Star Games and successful the 2010 AL Cy Young award. He is the franchise chief in each important pitching statistic, together with wins, ERA, innings, strikeouts, WAR, and so on. 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 staff that got here again from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five sequence did so due to 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 select him up.
Kirby close the Astros out throughout seven innings, together with a vote of self belief from skipper Scott Servais when he caught with Kirby towards Jose Altuve with two on and two outs in the 7th inning of a scoreless recreation, leaving his teenager in to stand some of the ideally suited hitters in baseball for a fourth time in the sport together with his staff’s season at the line. Kirby fanned Altuve on a fastball method up and out of the zone.
Kirby, the No. 20 select 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 used to be now not simply Seattle’s maximum vital recreation of 2022. It used to be their maximum vital recreation since 2001, and Kirby delivered.
Unfortunately for Kirby and the Mariners, Lance McCullers Jr. used to be simply as just right, hanging out seven in six shutout innings. He allowed handiest two hits. The recreation 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 used to be tasked with changing Carlos Correa this season, in spite of everything broke thru and swatted the series-winning house run towards 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 earlier than had Altuve long gone worse than 0 for six in a recreation 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 zero for 8 for Mariners) since the bullpens have been so nasty. Nineteen overall plate appearances with runners place in an 18-inning recreation tells you all you wish to have to understand. Scoring probabilities have been few and a long way between. It used to be going to take a homer to win Game 3.
4. Rodríguez in brief stored Seattle’s season
Shoutout to Julio Rodríguez. The Mariners wunderkind quickly stored his staff’s season with an amazing 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 now not positive what extra he may have achieved for his staff this season. He used to be improbable on either side of the ball. The Mariners have a bona fide celebrity to construct round.
5. It used to be tied for the longest recreation in historical past
As famous, this used to be the tied longest postseason recreation in baseball historical past. It used to be additionally the primary postseason recreation to be scoreless thru no less than 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 thru 14 innings and, on the time, it used to be the longest scoreless recreation in postseason historical past. So, in the primary 121 MLB season, by no means had two groups failed to attain thru 14 innings in a postseason recreation. 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, now not together with the 1994 strike season). Houston will face the winner of the Guardians vs. Yankees ALDS. That sequence will finish Saturday on the earliest.