Jeremy Peña homered within the 18th inning, and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0 on Saturday to advance to the AL Championship Series for the sixth straight yr.
Peña drove a slider from Penn Murfee deep to left-center for the rookie shortstop’s first playoff homer, proving the one run in a day filled with dominant pitching and empty journeys to the plate. The 18 innings matched the longest sport in playoff historical past.
Spoiling Seattle’s first house playoff look since 2001, Houston accomplished a three-game sweep of the ALDS. Next up is the New York Yankees or Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday.
While Yordan Alvarez acquired the massive hits within the first two video games in Houston, it was Pena that set the desk for Alvarez’s alternatives. As Game 3 made its approach into its sixth hour, Peña delivered one other painful blow to the Mariners that ended their brief return to the postseason.
After 21 years, Seattle followers welcomed playoff baseball again inside T-Mobile Park. They acquired their cash’s price, after which some.
Three earlier playoff video games reached the 18th inning earlier than conclusion, one involving Houston. The Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 18 innings in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS on Chris Burke’s game-ending homer.
Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS between San Francisco and Washington and Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between Los Angeles and Boston additionally went 18 innings.
But these video games had runs. This one failed to supply something till Peña’s swing on a 3-2 pitch.
Seattle’s finest scoring likelihood was Julio Rodríguez’s line drive that thudded off the wall within the eighth inning. Seattle had runners in scoring place within the thirteenth and seventeenth, however couldn’t get a key two-out hit in opposition to Houston’s very good bullpen.
Luis Garcia labored 5 innings for the win. The Astros bullpen allowed 5 hits and struck out 15 following six innings from starter Lance McCullers Jr.
Seattle’s bullpen was almost simply nearly as good. After rookie George Kirby threw seven innings, 9 Mariners relievers mixed for 11 innings of five-hit ball.
The groups mixed to strike out 42 instances, topping the postseason document of 39 set by the Guardians and Rays final week of their AL wild-card matchup that was scoreless for 15 innings earlier than Oscar Gonzalez’s house run despatched Cleveland to the ALDS.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com