9/23/26
(Seattle, WA) For the final time this season, the Seattle Mariners returned home on Tuesday night for the final six game of the 2026 campaign. Despite all of the disasters on the nine-game road trip, the M’s returned home still alive in the race for the AL West. While alive, there was really no margin for error as Seattle needed Texas to lose out and drop their final six games and they couldn’t have Houston win more than one while the Mariners couldn’t lose more than one game. All that added up to an unlikely, but not impossible task.
Part of that equation fell on the Mariners themselves as they would host the Houston Astros for two games to begin the final week of the regular season. With a split as the bare minimum for the M’s, they would need to rely on some hometown magic at T-Mobile Park against an Astros team that they have dominated in the last 12 months. A 12-2 record against Houston in their last 14 games did give at least some reason for optimism moving into this series.
Astros 7, Mariners 0 (Game One, September 22nd)
To open up the series, the Seattle Mariners would once again have the right guy on the mound as Logan Gilbert would have the ball in a big game. For Houston, they were hoping for Cristian Javier to regain his usual form after a couple of injury plagued seasons as they make a push to return to the postseason.
Houston got off to a fast start on Tuesday night. A base hit for Jeremy Peña led off the ballgame and he used his speed to get into scoring position with his 10th stolen base of the year. The likely American League MVP would cash in as Yordan ripped a base hit to right to scored Peña and make it 1-0. A couple of innings later, the Astros would blow it open early. After getting out of trouble in the 2nd, Logan Gilbert got back in hot water after two singles by Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz. Christian Walker has grown to be quite the nemesis for the Mariners and delivered a big blow again. A three-run shot to left was his 26th of the season and put Houston up 4-0 while also shortening Logan Gilbert’s outing.
Cristian Javier did not stay in the game long as he left after just two innings and was placed on the IL with a groin injury. That meant the Houston bullpen had to cover seven innings which would hurt them for the rest of the week as well. However, the bullpen was pretty good for the Astros on Tuesday. Seattle had nothing going for them offensively in the entire game. Houston did gift them some free baserunners on walks, but nothing ever came of those. It was pretty clear that if the Seattle bullpen couldn’t keep the game within reach, that Houston was going to be able to pull away.
A solo shot by Isaac Paredes opened it up even more in the 6th as Houston extended their lead to 5-0. The following inning, Julio Rodríguez saved a run by robbing Yainer Diaz of a solo shot up it just prolonged the inevitable. Two innings later in the 8th, a hit batter put a man on and Yordan Alvarez did the rest. A two-run bomb to right tied him for the AL lead in homers at 41 and also put a stamp on this game. The Mariners were shutout for the 15th time this season and saw their elimination number drop to one with a 7-0 defeat to the Houston Astros.
Notable Performances
Astros
- Yordan Alvarez- 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB
- Christian Walker- 1-5, HR, 3 RBI, R
- Cristian Javier (ND)- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
Mariners
- Julio Rodríguez- 2-4
- Cole Young- 1-3, BB, SB
- Logan Gilbert (L, 12-11)- 4 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO
Mariners 6, Astros 5 (10 Innings) (Game Two, September 23rd)
There was no longer any room for error as the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros met in the finale of their brief two-game series on Wednesday night. A loss for the Mariners or a win for the Texas Rangers would eliminate the M’s as they were on the field on ESPN in a nationally televised game. The whole country would see George Kirby’s final start of the regular season as he looked to end it on a high note against Ethan Pecko, who made his seventh career start on Wednesday.
A two-out double by Isaac Paredes was stranded by George Kirby as Julio Rodríguez completely misjudged a routine fly ball but it didn’t hurt the M’s in the 1st. Julio had the only Seattle hit in the first two innings before Houston started a high-scoring 3rd inning. Lucas Spence began the inning with a walk but was caught stealing by Cal Raleigh. That hurt Houston as Nick Allen doubled immediately after for his sixth of the season. The Astros then got on the board with an RBI single by Jose Altuve to get the scoring started. A double by Yordan Alvarez put two in scoring position and Isaac Paredes got one in with a sacrifice fly. A two-out, two-run home run by Yainer Diaz was the big blow as the catcher’s 14th home run of the season had Houston up 4-0.
It wasn’t just the Astros that got the offense going in the 3rd as a Lazaro Montes leadoff walk set Seattle up in the home half. A single by J.P. Crawford put two on with one out and a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. The bases were then loaded as Randy Arozarena drew walk with the meat of the order coming up. Dominic Canzone began his big night with a two-run single off the wall in right field to cut the deficit in half. After Cal Raleigh struck out for the second out, Julio Rodríguez clutched up with his 26th double of the season to plate another run. Runners would be left stranded on second and third, but Seattle came back to life to cut their deficit to 4-3.
George Kirby gutted through a couple more innings to put an end to his shaky 2026 season where he saw a career high in walks with 47. He would leave in line for his 12th loss, which would also be a career-high. However, the Mariner bats bailed him out in the 5th. A single and a stolen base for Randy Arozarena put the tying run in scoring position and once again Dominic Canzone would build upon the best season of his career. A line drive back up the middle saw Arozarena come around to score and all of a sudden the game was tied up at 4-4.
José A. Ferrer, Gabe Speier, Carlos Vargas, and Seranthony Domínguez each allowed one hit but no more as the M’s kept Houston off the board after the 3rd. Seattle got to Houston’s bullpen to tie the game, but couldn’t break that tie as the game headed to extra innings where Cooper Criswell dealt with Yordan Alvarez as the automatic runner. He would end up scoring on a one-out triple by Yainer Diaz as the ball got by a diving Taylor Ward in right. That gave Houston a chance to add on another, but Criswell came through with a huge strikeout of Nelson Velázquez. He stranded Diaz as Taylor Trammell grounded out to second to keep the score at 5-4.
Seattle’s automatic runner was J.P. Crawford and in a surprising move, Joe Espada kept Josh Hader in despite throwing 19 pitches in the 9th. Hader was clearly gassed and walked Randy Arozarena on seven pitches to begin the bottom of the 10th. With the winning run on, Dominic Canzone’s grounder was only able to get one out as Crawford and Arozarena moved up 90-feet. Houston elected to pitch to Cal Raleigh, but walked him to load the bases for Julio. J-Rod controlled the zone and worked a bases loaded walk to tie the game with the winning run moving up to third. Josh Naylor ended it quickly and smacked one back up the middle for a walk-off single. The Mariners cameback to down the Astros 6-5 in 10 innings to keep hope alive for another day.
Notable Performances
Astros
- Yainer Diaz- 2-5, 3B, HR, 3 RBI, R
- Yordan Alvarez- 2-4, 2B, 2 R, BB
- Ethan Pecko (ND)- 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
Mariners
- Dominic Canzone- 2-5, 3 RBI
- Julio Rodríguez- 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB
- George Kirby (ND)- 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
What’s Next
It all comes down to one final weekend where everything has to go perfectly for the Seattle Mariners. To make the playoffs, the Mariners (74-84) must sweep the four games against the Los Angeles Angels while the Rangers lose to the Mets on Thursday and get swept by the Twins over the weekend while the Astros get swept by the Athletics as well. It seems impossible and is extremely unlikely to happen. However, in a weird and mostly bad AL West, anything is possible and the fact is they aren’t officially dead yet.
Our final spotlight of the season is not going to focus on a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Instead, we will spotlight a Mariner instead and one who we all recognize just by the sound of his voice. Rick Rizzs will retire at the end of this season which means these four games against the Angels will likely be his last games on the radio. While it would surprise nobody for him to drop in from time to time, Rizzs has been the voice for a number of generations of the Mariners franchise and having him as the voice of the Mariners bonds fans both young and old. Rick has spent 41 seasons as the voice of the Mariners and despite leaving in 1991 to go be the voice of the Detroit Tigers, returned just in time to witness his favorite baseball season ever, that being the 1995 Seattle Mariners that saved baseball in the PNW. Now Rizzs will ride off into the sunset to spend more time with his family. As someone who was inspired by Dave Niehaus, Rick Rizzs has too inspired my own journey in sports and broadcasting. I, like many others in the PNW, will not be watching Sunday’s game and instead will be listening to Rick Rizzs on the radio, hoping to hear one last “Holy smokes!” Congratulations on an incredible career and legacy Rick Rizzs and for bringing baseball to life for an entire region and many generations of Mariners fans.
- Game One, Thursday 6:40pm- Grayson Rodriguez (4-8, 5.96 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo (12-9, 3.92 ERA)
- Game Two, Friday 7:10pm- Reid Detmers (6-8, 3.47 ERA) vs. Bryce Miller (4-9, 3.99 ERA)
- Game Three, Saturday 6:40pm- Ryan Johnson (5-9, 4.93 ERA) vs. Kade Anderson (2-2, 4.18 ERA)
- Game Four, Sunday 12:10pm- Yusei Kikuchi (1-6, 4.88 ERA) vs. Logan Gilbert (12-11, 3.81 ERA)
west42sports.com