Julio Rodriguez belts homer, Andrés Muñoz finishes off Mariners' win over Astros

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on May 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

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HOUSTON — In a rare glove-on appearance for one of the game’s all-time great designated hitters, Edgar Martínez threw batting practice to SEattle Mariners hitters Monday afternoon before the start of the Mariners-Houston Astros series at Daikin Park.

His first pitch nearly plunked J.P. Crawford, prompting a few playful barbs from his longtime teammate Jay Buhner, in town for one of his occasional appearances with the Mariners broadcast team.

Martínez, the Mariners’ senior hitting coach, soon settled in and began lobbing quality strikes.

No one was happier about that than Julio Rodríguez, one of Martínez’s prized pupils who launched one blast after another way out to left field. One of his home-run balls landed on the train tracks located 90 feet above the outfield grass, and Rodríguez bounced out of the batting cage in excitement.

The show continued throughout the evening for Rodríguez, who belted a 414-foot home run just shy of the train tracks in the third inning to highlight the Mariners’ 3-1 victory over the rival Astros in the opener of their four-game series.

After an effective — but truncated — start from George Kirby, rookie right-hander Nick Davila and emerging right-hander Cooper Criswell helped a patchwork bullpen finish off the Mariners’ eighth consecutive victory over Houston.

Eduard Bazardo, a day after taking the loss to the White Sox in Chicago, worked around a leadoff walk to pitch a scoreless eighth inning.

Embattled closer Andrés Muñoz, after allowing a two-out single to Jose Altuve, struck out Yordan Alvarez swinging through a 93-mph changeup to earn his eighth save.

The Mariners (20-22) inched closer to .500 after their series loss in Chicago over the weekend.

Rodríguez, in his fifth season, is off to the best start in any season of his career, and he nearly homered in his first at-bat in the first inning off Astros right-hander Peter Lambert, sending a drive just foul near the left-field foul pole (he lined out to right field to end the at-bat).

In the third inning, Rodríguez belted a no-doubter off the facing of the high wall in left field, his seventh home run of the season to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.

It was the 119th home run of his career, to go along with 119 stolen bases. (Over a 162-game season, that averages out to 30 homers and 30 steals.)

With two outs in the second inning, Dom Canzone drove the Mariners’ first run with a sharp opposite-field single to left field, driving in Randy Arozarena from second base.

On the next pitch, Cole Young singled to right field, driving in Luke Raley from second base with a head-first slide home. On both plays, M’s third-base coach Carlos Cardoza showed no hesitation in sending both runners home, and the aggressiveness paid off both times.

Kirby allowed only one run in five innings, though he needed 99 pitches to get through those five innings. He scattered seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

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