HOUSTON — When the two-seam fastball left his hand, Robbie Ray knew trouble was ahead. The pitch was leaking back to the middle of the plate in the worst possible way.
When the ball left the bat of Yordan Alvarez and most of the 47,165 in Minute Maid Park roared in anticipation, Ray was already walking toward the Mariners dugout with his head down in disgust.
There was no need to watch the baseball turn into a vapor trail. He knew the result — a walk-off three-run homer. The only question remaining was how for it would go and how much damage it would do to his team as they tried to move forward in the American League Championship Series.
And as Alvarez circled the bases and his teammates waited at home plate to celebrate their stunning 8-7 come-from-behind victory, Mariners players walked off the field in disgust knowing they’d just given away a chance to rewrite their history against their AL West rivals in a building that has caused so much frustration and disappointment.
Instead, another chapter of failure against the Astros will be written.
How did it get this point with Ray standing on the mound against a team that owned him this season with the game on the line?
Up 7-5 going into the ninth inning, manager Scott Servais called on Paul Sewald to start the frame. Sewald retired the first hitter, but then hit Dustin Hensley with a pitch to allow the tying run to come to the plate.
He came back to strike out Jose Altuve for the second out. Sewald was up 0-2 on Jeremy Pena and was one strike away from ending the game. Instead Pena golfed a single to center to allow Alvarez, the Astros most dangerous hitter, to come to the plate.
Manager Scott Servais turned to Ray, the Mariners’ big free-agent acquisition, to get the one out and end the game.
Ray had been beaten up by the Astros this season to the point of wondering whether he would pitch in this series. Now he was on the mound facing Alvarez, who represented the winning run.
Alvarez was right on a first-pitch sinker from Ray, fouling it back. Ray threw the same pitch in a worse spot, and Alvarez crushed it.
It crushed a magical performance where the Mariners scored six runs on 10 hits off Astros ace Justin Verlander, knocking him out after four innings.
Seattle held leads of 4-0, 6-2 and 7-3.
Yes, the Mariners handed Verlander one of his four losses in the regular season back on May 27 at T-Mobile Park. It was his worst defeat in terms of hits (10), runs (6) and homers (4) allowed in a game.
But in his final six starts of this season, Verlander made six starts and posted a 0.84 ERA, allowing three earned runs on 15 hits in 32 innings pitched with 47 strikeouts and four walks.
But that version of Verlander wasn’t on the mound on Tuesday afternoon.
It was apparent in the first inning. He walked Julio Rodriguez and gave up a hard single to Ty France to put runners on first and third with no outs.
After striking out Eugenio Suarez looking, Cal Raleigh dumped a single into right field to score Rodriguez and give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
And while Seattle failed to add more runs in the inning, the air of invulnerability surrounding Verlander had dissipated.
When the top of the second came to an end, the Mariners had made Verlander look mortal. New postseason hero Adam Frazier led off with a single, and Jarred Kelenic followed with a single through the shift. Instead of bunting the runners into scoring position, J.P. Crawford hit a deep fly ball to center, which allowed both runners to alertly tag up and advance a base.
With first base open, Verlander didn’t elevate a 1-2 fastball quite enough to Rodriguez. The rookie hammered the pitch into the gap in right-center for a two-run double and a 3-0 lead.
France notched his second of three hits off Verlander, lacing a single up the middle to score Rodriguez and make it 4-0.
The six runs allowed tied for the most earned runs allowed by Verlander in 30 postseason starts. In Game 1 of the 2006 World Series vs. the Cardinals, he gave up seven runs (six earned) on six hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in five innings of work.
Seattle starter Logan Gilbert gave the Mariners a solid outing, allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings. But the Astros also picked up two runs off Andres Munoz on a two-run homer from Alex Bregman.
